【推荐1】Does your school have charity sales? Our school had one a few days ago. Students brought many things for the sale. There were novels, magazines, toys, cartoon posters and beautiful candles. Most things were almost brand-new. Many students and teachers bought things at the sale. Wu Zhongyue, a Grade 8 student, found that novels for kids were much cheaper. Four copies written by Zheng Yuanjie cost her 10 yuan. Pan Liqi spent 20 yuan on posters and hoped the money would go to poor kids. At last the sale raised about 6,000 yuan.

The purpose of the sale is to help the children in Africa. Every day hundreds of them die because they have diseases or don’t have enough food to eat. First, there is no work for the children’s parents, so they have no money to buy food or medicine. Second, the governments in many African countries are too poor to care for the poor. The land and the weather are bad for farming. There are many organizations trying to help these poor people. The organization we are trying to help, the Feed Africa Fund, spends millions of dollars every year on food for poor people in Africa. This money comes from people like you—kind, generous people who do not want to see children die from hunger.

【推荐2】Helen has always been interested in helping others. Her first volunteer experience was for the American Red Cross (美国红十字会) when she was in high school.     1    

After she retired (退休), she started volunteering to help the old. When her father was very old, he was not able to see things clearly. He loved reading but he couldn’t read because of his poor eyesight (视力). That made Helen very sad.     2     She was sure that reading to them could bring them fun and pleasure.

She also helped one woman write her stories. Ann was almost 100 years old.     3     Then she gave the notebook to Ann. Ann was very excited because she could share her life stories with her children.

After a strong storm in some cities, Helen volunteered again for the American Red Cross.     4     Everyone in the care center said that she was kind and helpful.

Helen hopes to do more volunteer work. She says, “The real value (价值) of my volunteer work is becoming friends with the people I help.     5     Volunteer work also makes a difference to their life.”

【推荐3】Alexis Lewis is a girl from America. She likes to invent—to think of new ideas for things that no one has made before, and then make them.

Alexis often enters competitions for young inventors. When she was younger she spent time with her grandfather, who made transport(运输工具) for people to go to space. One day Alexis’ mother told her about a newspaper article which explained how difficult it was to get sick people through the countryside to hospital in Africa. Alexis wanted to help.

Alexis knew that in North America, before there were cars, horses pulled heavy things on a travois(旧式雪橇), made of wood. Alexis thought people could do the same, but she added wheels. To make her travois light, she used bamboo, a plant that grows in Africa, not wood.

To pull Alexis’ travois, you wear a belt(腰带), which means you can carry or hold other things. Alexis thought her travois was ideal for carrying food home from the market, as well as taking people to hospital. After it was finished, she wrote instructions for building one so people in Africa could make it themselves.

With help from U.S.companies(公司), Alexis gave some free travois to hospitals in Africa. She didn’t ask them for money because they were for poor people.

Alexis doesn’t know if she wants to be an inventor when she’s older, because she also likes music and writing, but she thinks it’s important for children to learn about inventing at school.