【推荐1】Some of you may know about volunteering. But how much do you know about it? Helping others is a great thing because everyone needs help. You can learn something new and have fun. You can have many ways of helping others around you. You can help people, animals or the environment (环境). People will feel good when they volunteer. Volunteering is giving your time or money to help others. Students can volunteer on weekends. You can visit old people to talk to them or help them, help clean up a park or cheer up the sick children by singing songs for them. Try your best to help others. The more we volunteer, the better our world will be.

A retired postman from Turkey and a beautiful white swan have been always together for nearly forty years, and the story of their friendship has warmed the hearts of millions.

In 1984 Recep Mirzan was in a car with a group of friends, when he saw a swan that appeared to have a broken wing in an empty field.

Mirzan quickly realized that leaving the bird there was the same as signing its death sentence, as meat-eating animals would have most likely eaten it, so he stopped the car and took the bird with him. He kept it in the car until evening, when he took it home and started nursing it back to health.

“Since I love animals, I said to myself that I should take her home instead of leaving her as dinner to foxes,” Mirzan said, “We got used to each other. We never separated.”

Even after the swan’s broken wing healed (痊愈), it didn’t try to fly away. Instead, it acted as a friend to the other animals on Recep’s farm, and decided to stick around. Recep named her Garip and now she has been with him ever since.

“She comes when I call. Since 1984, she has never left me, not even during the river floods,” the retired postman said. “She used to be stronger, but she has grown old now. If she dies, I will make her a nice grave (墓穴) here, but I hope we live more together.”

During the day, she is busy following her human friend around, either during his daily housework, or on his evening walks.

After his wife died a few years ago, Recep Mirzan started spending more time with his animals, and since he has no human children, he considers Garip as his child.

Xu Xiujuan was born in Zhalong, Heilongjiang Province in 1964. Her father’s job was to look after red-crowned cranes. Xiujuan started helping her father when she was young. She soon showed a great love for these white birds. She became good at raising them.

When Xiujuan was 21, she got a job at a nature reserve in Jiangsu Province. She enjoyed taking care of the baby cranes. If a bird became sick, she took good care of it and stayed with it every day until it was strong enough to fly again.

In September 1987, one of the birds went missing. The workers in the nature reserve looked everywhere, but no one could find it. Xiujuan was very worried. She looked for it day and night for two days. On the second night, while she was looking for the missing bird, she fell into a river and died. She was only 23.

Later, the song “The story of the red-crowned crane” was written in memory of Xiujuan. Though Xiujuan died young, people always remember her when they hear the song or see a red-crowned crane.

Everybody makes decisions in daily life. They can be as important as what you will do in the future or as simple as what you will eat for breakfast. Any decision could be the turning point of your life.

1_______ Before I made that decision I was one of the boys who tried too hard to act as an adult. I didn’t know that only kids want to show themselves as adults.

I didn’t listen to my parents and teachers, and my grades became poor. Then came the high school entrance exam.

2_______ I wanted to turn it down but when I looked at her eyes, I felt I couldn’t refuse. Instead of asking me to study hard, to my surprise, mom just asked what I wanted to do in the future. Without thinking too much, I just said I would like to study hard.

Mom smiled and asked again: “I asked: what do you WANT to do?”

I never seriously thought about the question. So, I kept silent.

“Whether you want to go on studying or enter the society,” she went on, “it is your own decision. Your life ought to be decided by you, not by anyone else, including me.” After saying that, she had tears in her eyes.

3_______ I sat in my chair and thought about myself, my life and what kind of person I wanted to become.

It took me what seemed to be ages to make the biggest decision so far in my life—I wanted to be a man who makes a difference. To achieve that, I needed to study hard.

4_______ I didn’t act rebelliously(叛逆的) anymore. With passion(激情) in my heart, I studied hard.

Now, I’m 17 and I’m in one of the best schools in my city, in one of the best classes at the school and I am one of the best students in the class.

Thanks to that decision, I have become what I am today.

A notice in front of a restaurant has become famous on the Internet. It says, “If you’re hungry or líving a hard lífe, come here and have a 15-yuan pig trotter (猪蹄) with rice. You can just leave after the meal. When you are better in the future, remember to help the people in need around you. Thank you!” The notice was written by Li Yuan, who started to offer the free meal after he opened his first restaurant in Shenzhen.

The story behind Li’s notice started when he was only 16. He left home for work and came to a big city. At first, Li couldn’t find a job. He was all alone and had no money. One day, Li was tired and hungry. He asked several restaurants for a meal.

Everyone said “NO” except the owner (主人) of a small restaurant. He offered Li a pig trotter with rice. It was not a big meal, but the best meal that Li had during the hard days.

Now Li also teaches people to make pig trotters with rice. He hopes that more people can live a better life. “I may lose some money by giving free meals, but I don’t mind. I can get something priceless (无价的) in return. You share roses and get fun.” Li said.