2 . My mom’s friend Elena is a volunteer. Elena’s work is to help kids in Latin America. Her stories were always interesting, so I decided to have an interview with her to ask her questions about her work. Here are her answers.

Question 1: When did you start volunteering?

Answer: I started when I was a teenager, around 15 years old. I followed the example set by my parents, who always wanted to help in our community.

Question 2: ____________

A: Because we are all part of the same community. Helping is a circle. I help them be happy and that makes me happy. So they help me, too! And I’ve always liked children and wanted to make sure that they have a good future.

Question 3: Which organization do you volunteer for?

A: I volunteered for the Red Cross. Now, I also volunteer for Our Little Brothers and Sisters. It is for children who don’t have parents, or whose families can’t support them. It can take care of children from birth and the loving support system is there until they are ready to take care of themselves, even through college. Once they can support themselves, the organization asks them to work there for one year. In this way, they give back to the community, too.

Question 4: What kind of work do you do for this organization?

A: I help kids with homework, help adults with cleaning and sometimes I teach. And I also play with the children and organize activities for them, like visits to museums or trips to the beach. It’s a lot of fun!

Question 5: How can students like me help these organizations?

A: You can help your school raise money for different charities. Think about collecting books and toys you no longer want! Give them to hospitals and community centers or to organizations that can send them to other communities in need.

3 . Liu Zhonglan, a street cleaner from Hefei, Anhui Province, received（收到）her breakfast at 6 a.m. one day in September. Not only Liu, more than 12,000 cleaners of the city got free breakfast every day in this month. There was porridge, bread, eggs and so on.

Liu often starts to work at 4 a.m. She usually brings some food from home. But sometimes she is too tired to prepare it and she doesn’t want to buy any to save money. Most of the cleaners like her in Hefei get less than 3,000 yuan a month.

The price of each breakfast was from 6 to 8 yuan. The government（政府）paid for it. An officer said, “We care about each street cleaner’s health, so we invite them to have free breakfast. For those who do not need to work in the morning, the government will add the money to their salary (薪水).” He believed giving the breakfast was better than adding money to their salaries, because if they chose money, some of them would probably still not have breakfast. This could make them face health problems.

The program “free breakfast” is popular with the street cleaners in Hefei. The government is calling on other cities in Anhui to learn from Hefei’s practice.

A man fell to the ground outside Changde Railway Station on August 14th. Two young girls ran to help him     1     (immediate) after seeing what happened. Video     2     (show) that they did CPR for 20 minutes till the ambulance came.     3     (How), the man still died at last.

The two girls were students on their way     4     (catch) a train to Chengdu. The dead man’s family thanked the two students for saving the man’s life.

This video soon went popular on the Internet. What the two girls did got much praise (赞扬) on the Internet. But to people’s     5     (surprised), someone concocted a lie (捏造谎言) that, “A day later, the family sued (起诉) the two students for doing     6     (medicine) aid without having a doctor’s certificate (证书).”

Later, the university where the girls studied said that although they didn’t get a certificate, they received     7     (train) on first aid at school. In fact, even the man’s family thanked the two girls, but some “keypad villains (键盘侠)” tried to concoct lies just to catch people’     8     (attend vt. 注意、照顾).

Doctors try their best     9     (save) lives, but they are not gods (神). It’s     10     (nature) that they can’t save someone sometimes. In fact, more people should learn first aid to save more lives.

6 . Last year, a group named Sea Life Trust saved two beluga whales (白鲸) from an aquarium (水族馆) in China and sent them to Iceland. The group works to protect the world’s seas and sea animals.

The two beluga whales, named Little Grey and Little White, have had lots to do since 2011. They were part of a study programme in Russia before an aquarium in China bought them. At the aquarium, the whales were trained to perform for visitors. In 2012, the aquarium was bought by Merlin Entertainment. The new owners wanted to set the whales free, and started working with Sea Life Trust to move the belugas to Iceland.

In 2019, the whales were taken to Iceland. They spent almost a year in special pools preparing for their new life in the sea. They could learn to live like wild whales there.

On August 8th, the whales were taken to a special place in Klettsvik Bay. It will be home to Little Grey and Little White for the rest of their lives. Scientists say they could live to be around 40 years old.

Manners are reciprocal(相互的). If someone holds a door, say “Thank you.” If you need something from a grocery shelf, and someone else is in the way, say “Excuse me, please.” Or ask them “    1    ?” and then thank them.

It is very important to set a good example for children, and give them positive feedback(反馈) when they do the right thing. Here is an example:

Recently I was at a public celebration event, and two young boys (probably not more than 2 or 3 years different in age, but they did not appear to be brothers) were in front of me in line for some shaved ice.     2    .

As they stood there patiently, the younger boy was asking the other how much the cones were. At the reply of   “$4.00,” he looked shocked, and said, “I only have $5.00.”     3     . The older boy said nothing, but when we got to the window. The older boy ordered two cones, and waved the younger boy’s money away, treating him to his shaved ice.

    4    . The older boy smiled, and said, “It’s nothing. My dear friend!”

I told the older boy, “That was a very nice thing you just did for your friend.” He was a bit shy, smiled, and shrugged(耸肩). I know he was probably full of pride inside to be noticed for doing an act of kindness.

   It all comes back to the old saying, “What goes around comes around.”     5     . Use them, and be kind, and people will respond likewise.

9 . When Zhang Dongdong, from Beijing, arrived at Sanbao Street in Qinglong, Guizhou in August, 2019, he found that most of the children there lived with their grandparents. Their parents moved to large cities to work. The families were poor, and there were no else books for the children to read except textbooks. Zhang felt sorry for the children. He tried his best and got 3,000 books from all over the country. Half a year later, he set up Sanbao Children’s Library.

After several months, Zhang went to Zhanma Village. He visited the village primary school. Zhang found that the school library was a small room with old books and there was no place for children to read. So Zhang planned to build another library, and on June 1st the following year, World Children’s Day. Zhanma Village Library opened its door.

“I’m not the only one that has built a library for a village,” Zhang, 38, said, “In fact, most secretaries(书记）choose to build village libraries as a very important part of our work. Books can be good friends for the children, enriching(充实) their childhood and maybe their lives.”

10 . Joris Hutchison is thirteen years old and he’s from America. He loves cheetahs (猎豹). When he hears that there are only about 7, 000 cheetahs in the world and that they are in great danger. Joris is upset and he wants to do something.

With his mother’s help, he works with a wildlife sanctuary (野生动物保护区) in Namibia, a country in Africa. He helps to get money by selling things like T-shirts and flowers. He also has parties to get money.

Joris uses the money to buy special collars (项圈) for cheetahs. In Namibia, farmers kill(杀死)cheetahs because they are afraid that the big cats may eat their farm animals. With the collars farmers can know where cheetahs are.

In summer, Joris usually goes to work at the Sanctuary with his mother. He says, “We need to tell people that we can do something about it.”