When you hear the word “volunteering”. What do you think of it? You may think volunteering is to help others, and give them money or things. It is true that volunteering can help others, but it can also     1     . If you are sad about something, doing volunteering can be a great way to deal with your     2     .

Volunteering also lets you see your     3     life in new ways. Sometimes it’s easy to     4     some things like grades and health or get angry when you don’t have the newest computer games. Volunteering lets you     5     some time doing other things for a while.

Lots of people and kids find that they really enjoy volunteering. Voluntary experiences often put you in a different     6     . For example, you might know that just on the other side of your town, there are some kids who really need winter clothes. It feels good to     7     meet a need like that. You will know that,     8     you, some kids have warm coats, hats and shoes. So whether it is winter clothes, food for the hungry, or homes for some     9     pets, doing voluntary work means a very important thing. You     10     to the world.

Many Chinese like cycling and they often go to work or school by bike. A British man     1     Mark Beaumont also loves cycling. But different from others, he would like to go farther. Recently, he has finished his journey (行程) and become the     2     person to cycle around the world.

This 25-year-old British man     3     his journey in Paris last August. From then on, he spent 195 days and 6 hours     4     18000 meters through 20 countries.

It’s not an easy     5     for Mark. During the journey, he met floods (洪水), robbers (强盗), traffic accidents and so on. But all these difficulties didn’t stop Mark from     6     on. He made it at last. The journey not only made Mark a new Guinness World Record (吉尼斯世界纪录) holder, but helped him     7     thousands of pounds for charity (慈善).

Mark was     8       about his success and he planned to     9     a book about his journey. “I hope to encourage (鼓励) other young people to try their best to make their dreams     10     true.”

Greg Woodburn,     1     university student, spends much time cleaning sports shoes. Some of them were once his, and some were his friends’. But soon the shoes will have new     2    

Greg used to be a high school running star. He had to stop running because his knee hurt     3    . “After I hurt myself, I started thinking about all the things on running,” he said. “And I found there were children who didn’t even have shoes. Then I made a(n)     4     to give away sports shoes. ”

At first, Greg wanted to collect (收集) 100 pairs of shoes. When the number climbed to 500 pairs, Greg was excited. He realized (意识到) that he could collect shoes all year round. Then he set up collection boxes in his town. So far, Greg has collected and given away more than 3, 000 pairs of shoes. And he has cleaned almost all of them. “Many of my friends were     5     when they heard about it. They thought of it as dirty work,” he said, “    6     I like doing it. I have a(n)     7     of joy when I do it. ”

For many poor children, receiving (收到) the shoes means opportunity (机会). Two young boys in southern California     8     a pair of shoes, so they had to go to school on alternate days (隔日). The shoes were broken, and they were too big for one boy and too small for the other. Thanks     9     Greg, the boys now go to school every day. They said that when they grew up, they would show     10     kindness to others like Greg.

On a snowy evening, a rich lady was standing by the road. She was very worried. Her car broke down. Just then a poor man called Robert came. He was on his way back home from work     1     usual.

The lady wondered, “Is the man going to help me? He looks very cold and hungry.” But to her surprise, he stopped and said with     2     smile, “What’s wrong, madam?” The lady told him what was happening. After 40 minutes, the car was at last fixed by Robert. The lady wanted to pay him.

“No, that’s nothing, madam,” he said. “I was just helping someone in     3    . If you really want to pay me back, I hope whenever you see someone in trouble, please give him a hand.” A few minutes later, the lady saw a shabby (破旧的) house by the road. She     4     Robert’s words, so she stopped. The hostess (女主人) asked her in. The lady could see that it was a poor family and they needed help. When the hostess was making tea in the kitchen, the lady     5     500 dollars on the table and went away quietly.

Robert came home later than before, thinking how hard their life was. Their baby was to be born the next month but there wasn’t     6     money. His wife went up to him, kissed him and said     7    , “Don’t worry, dear! Everything’s going to be all right. A stranger has helped us out.”

According to some old Chinese stories, there once was     1     ancient emperor named Shennong. At that time, people could not tell the difference between medicinal (药用的) and poisonous(有毒的) plants. When they got sick, there was no medicine to treat their illnesses. Many sick people could only wait for     2    .

To save his people, Shennong decided to     3     and test out different plants. He and his followers set out on a journey to find medicinally effective plants. Once, they     4     a large forest on a high cliff (悬崖) from a distance. Although there must be many different     5     of plants, they couldn’t find a way to the cliff.     6    , they saw some monkeys climbing along the vines and trees hanging down from the cliff. Shennong was inspired by the scene. He asked his followers to cut down the tree trunks and vines. Together they built a scaffold (脚手架) . With its help, they climbed to the cliff and collected many     7     plants.

Each time the team found a new type of plant, Shennong would taste it     8    . Some plants made him sleepy. Some caused him to suffer pains in his stomach. Some made him tremble (颤抖) all over.     9     searching and testing over a long period of time, he and his followers managed to discover hundreds of medicinal plants.

One day, Shennong tested a poisonous plant by mistake, and passed away later. People covered him with thousands of flowers. From then on, Shennong was     10     the “Emperor of Medicine”.

The Beijing Hearing Dog Association has a plan. They plan to choose some stray dogs (流浪狗) and     1     them. Then the dogs will be able to     2     the old and the deaf. They like to choose young dogs better, because it’s       3     to train them. The kind of dog is not important.

Twenty-four     4     will join the training. They all have some experience of     5     dogs and they all love dogs. They will learn a     6     language first from the coach and they teach the dogs. This training will take 180 days. Then the better-performed dogs will enter (进入) the next training. They will learn to understand different sounds, such as knocking on a     7     and water boiling. Then the dogs will live with the deaf or the old     8     30 days.

Some people think the     9     won’t work because it will cost a lot of money.     10    , some people like the plan and they would like to be the volunteers.

I am fighting fires as the assistant captain (副队长)of a volunteer fire company.

I still remember my first fire. I was the second volunteer on the scene. When I saw the captain, he     1     with the homeowner, who was surely having one of the worst days of her life. At midnight, she was standing outside in the pouring rain, under an umbrella, barefoot, while her house was in flames (在燃烧中). The other volunteer, who had arrived just before me,     2     to go inside and save the homeowner’s dog. The captain then waved me over. He said, “Bezos, I need you to go upstairs past the fire, and get this woman a pair of shoes. But be careful, or you     3     hurt.” So, I went up the stairs, down the hall, past the real firefighters, who were pretty much done putting out the fire, into the master bedroom     4     a pair of shoes.

Now I know what you     5     now, but I’m no hero. [laughter] I carried the shoes downstairs where I     6     the other volunteer with the dog. We took our treasures (珍宝) outside to the homeowner, where, he received much more attention than I. “Thank you so much. I     7     the dog for five years. It has been my family,” she said.

A few weeks later, the company received a letter from the homeowner thanking us for     8     her home. The act of kindness she noted above all others: someone had even gotten her a pair of shoes.

Life is never a smooth ride. Everyone     9     different difficulties some day. When you see that, what will you do?

Here, I will give you a suggestion: don’t wait. Don’t wait until you make your first million to make a difference in somebody’s life. If you have something to do,     10     it now.

Not every day is going to offer us a chance to save somebody’s life, but every day offers us an opportunity to affect one. So get in the game. Save the shoes.