When it comes to the benefits of volunteering, a lot of people think it’s all about the warm feeling after helping someone.     1     As is known, charity work requires a wide variety of people to do a wide variety of things. It means that there are some surprising benefits for volunteers. For example, volunteering:

Teaches you new skills

From helping making websites to teaching immigrant kids your native language, or to arranging events for charity, volunteering can really be almost anything. It means that when you get involved in charity work, a lot of the time you will face challenges.     2    

Can teach you what truly matters

It’s a great way to find new perspective (角度) on life. When you’ve been at it for a while, you just might find yourself re-evaluating your advantages.     3     One of my friends went from wanting to be a lawyer to discovering a true passion for teaching.

    4    

Maybe it’s not so surprising, but what might surprise you is how genuine these friends are. Some of my long term friends are people I’ve met through volunteering. I’m not the kind of guy that makes friends purely for connections, but sometimes it’s very convenient to have a broad network.

Summed up in one line: volunteering helps you grow.     5     You meet a very wide variety of people you don’t have a lot in common with. You learn to get along with people involved in many different walks of life. You learn to know what you are to do. So if you’ve ever considered volunteering, what are you waiting for?

What Would You Do? is a TV program on American ABC. The program which is hosted by the news reporter John Quinones is popular with many people. It tests what people will do when they see someone is in trouble so as to remind us to stand up for the people in need. Here is last week’s program. In a cake shop, an actress acted as a blind woman named Pamela, and an actor acted as a man clerk who looked down upon the blind woman. Hidden cameras were recording what would happen. The blind woman came into the shop and bought a box of twelve cup cakes. The clerk treated the woman badly at first. Then he cheated her when he gave her the change. He only gave her 6 single dollar bills instead of 34 dollars. Would someone be brave enough to stand up for the blind woman? Yes! A customer in the cake shop stopped the clerk from cheating the blind woman and treating her badly. And other customers joined in soon. John appeared in the end and interviewed the first customer who helped Pamela out. She said it was necessary to give a hand to the people in need. “A psychology professor once said,” It’s difficult to take the first step to stand up. It needs courage.

In the program, a customer stood up when a blind woman was cheated badly in a cake shop. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Pacheco was a little girl, her parents let her pick out a girl doll (洋娃娃). She picked one that had the same hair color and style as her. She wondered     1     children with disabilities (残疾) would feel when they find there are no dolls that look like them?

One day, Pacheco read a     2     about “A Doll Like Me” project. It makes look-alike dolls     3     children with disabilities. Pacheco wanted to make similar dolls.

Over     4     past several months, Pacheco has made cloth dolls for four local kids with birthmarks, surgical scars (手术疤痕) or some disabilities. Pacheco     5     the kids about their favorite sports and hobbies. She also     6     doll-making videos and practiced sewing (缝纫). In this way, she became     7     at making cloth dolls.

After she got her own sewing machine, she taught     8     to sew skirts and clothes for the dolls.     9     the kids received the dolls, they were so happy to notice the special parts of the dolls. “Each of the four kids is so special.” Pacheco said, “Their disabilities are easily noticed.     10    , they can still notice their own beauty. I hope they can see themselves in a new light through these dolls.”

What Would You Do? is a TV program on American ABC. The program which is hosted by the news reporter John Quinones is popular with many people. It tests what people will do when they see someone is in trouble so as to remind us to stand up for the people in need. Here is last week’s program.

In a cake shop, an actress acted as a blind woman named Pamela, and an actor acted as a man clerk who looked down upon the blind woman. Hidden cameras were recording what would happen. The blind woman came into the shop and bought a box of twelve cup cakes. The clerk treated the woman badly at first. Then he cheated her when he gave her the change. He only gave her 6 single dollar bills instead of 34 dollars.

Would someone be brave enough to stand up for the blind woman? Yes! A customer in the cake shop stopped the clerk from cheating the blind woman and treating her badly. And other customers joined in soon. John appeared in the end and interviewed the first customer who helped Pamela out. She said it was necessary to give a hand to the people in need. “A psychology（心理学）professor once said,” she said. “It’s difficult to take the first step to stand up. It needs courage.”

9 . “Love is easy.” My mum said to me when I was a child. Last summer holiday, I finally got the ________ to understand her words. After reading a report about poor areas, I decided to join a volunteer (志愿者) group to go to a small ________ in Sichuan province.

When I told my parents about my plan, they didn’t ________ at first. “You have ________ been to the village before. It might not be ________ for you to go there,” they said. “I’ve grown up and I can ________ myself well,” I kept explaining my plan and in the end they said yes.

When we arrived there, I noticed how ________ the place was from my city. Houses were built on small hills. Many of ________ had broken windows or doors. There was only one school with two classrooms. I stayed with children and told stories to them. They looked happy every day ________ they were so poor. I couldn’t find a word to describe their happiness when they ________ an ice cream, a ball or even a kiss.

I’m so glad that I had this experience and I have learned the meaning of what my mum said.