Have you ever worked as a volunteer? Volunteers don't get paid for what they do, but the experience of helping others can be more valuable than 1. There are many charities (慈善机构) around the world. There are always in need of volunteers who want to make a difference.
Do you want to 2 a volunteer? Think about what skills you have? If you speak more than one language or you are good at 3 broken things, you can find places to use your skills to help other people.
Volunteering doesn't always mean doing great things. You can start with 4 things. There is a famous saying that goes, "Charity begins at home". If people help those around them. 5 will be in trouble. There are always people in your neighbourhood who need help with some tasks, such as walking their dogs. looking after their kids, and carrying their 6 shopping bags. You can also volunteer by donating 7 to hospitals. These things may seem small, but they can still make a difference in someone else's life.
Volunteers don't 8 help people. Environmental volunteers work hard to protect the environment. They plant trees or 9 city parks. Other volunteers work for animal charities which save the homeless or injured animals. They feed the animals and show them love. They take care of the animals until they are 10 enough to be put in good homes.
All in all, volunteering is really a good way to make a contribution to your hometown and to the world.
Lisa was a single mother who lived with her little son. She lost her job two years ago and they had a very hard life. Being poor was terrible. Her heart was broken every time her son asked. "Can I have some more bread and jam please, Mommy?"
One day, when her son asked the same question again, she decided to prepare a big meal for him with the only 6 dollars in her hand. She went to the supermarket, bought some food and cooked at home. Lisa was a shy mother, but she was strong-minded. "It's time to make a change," she thought. She used to love writing. In order to make some money, she began to write articles for magazines day and night.
Things went better. The local food bank started to provide her with some free vegetables every month. Her son finally had enough to eat. Once he told Lisa that the dishes she made were delicious. Suddenly, an idea came to Lisa's mind, "Why not share my recipes(食谱) on the Internet?" she did. Many people liked her recipes and she became popular.
Soon after that, some reporters interviewed her and asked her to write a book on cooking. When Lisa got the money for the book she wrote, she had a good sleep for the first night during the two years. Now Lisa has a well-paid job and a beautiful home, but she'll never forget the days when she worked hard for a good life.
The Aborigines(澳大利亚土著居民) have lived in Australia for about 40,000 years. They painted pictures inside caves(洞穴), and these are the rock paintings that have given us so much information about Aboriginal life. For example, some of the paintings mat are about 10,000 years old show men with boomerangs(回飞镖). From this we know that the Aborigines started using boomerangs for hunting at that time. Other pictures show kangaroos, so we know that there were kangaroos at that time.
The Aborigines believed that spirits made people, animals and plants, and that these spirits still live on Earth. For Aborigines, no one can own me Earth—the Earth belongs to the spirits.
In 1700, there were many Aboriginal groups with a population of 750,000 all over Australia, and there were probably more than 240 different Aboriginal languages. The groups didn't have a leader. Instead, things were decided by the order men in a group. People from different groups often travelled hundreds of miles to meet each other.
Aboriginal life changed when an English boat arrived in Australia in 1770. Many Aborigines were killed in the wars that they had with the English. More Europeans came, and they started taking land from the Aborigines. The Europeans also brought new illnesses mat killed the Aborigines. Today there are only about 300,000 Aborigines in Australia.
My name is Sam. I joined a club called "passing help" last month. Now let me tell you why I joined it.
One evening this May, on my way home my old car broken down. It was 25 miles from my home. I wanted to get a ride(搭便车), but there was no car. It was also hard to take a taxi. I decided to take a bus home. I went to a bus stop nearby.
After a while, a bus came, but it did not go to my town. The bus driver was a young woman. She was kind and she told me which bus I should take. I waited there for about thirty minutes, but no bus came. At last a car came to me and a woman came out of the car. She was just the bus driver.
"When I reached the bus station, I got to know that the bus to your town couldn't come, so I returned here. I just can't leave you here," she said, "Get in my car and l will take you back to your home."
"It is a long way." I said.
"Come on, sir," she said, "Let's go."
On the way she told me a story. A few days ago，there wasn't gas(汽油) in her car. An old man drove her up to a gas station and then back to her car.
When we got to my home, I wanted to give her some money to thank her, but she didn't accept. "I only want to help others and do something nice for somebody. Pass it along." she said.
It is reported that some developed countries have shipped broken parts of computers to China. A few years ago, Hong Kong officers found 131,000 kilograms of broken computers, TVs and phones sent from Japan.
Things like these are called electronic waste, or e-waste. Dealing with them is not an easy job. Every time an old computer breaks down, it needs to be dealt with safely. What is worse, at present, broken computer parts are usually buried. It may be hundreds of years before they are really gone in the earth.
Many places in China are polluted by e-waste. Guiyu in Guangdong Province is one of them. This town is named as "the e-waste capital of the world". It has to deal with 1.5 million kilograms of e-waste each year, from which it makes 75 million yuan. But it comes at a cost. Many of the poisons in e-waste find their way into the environment. An environmental group has found the air, the earth and the rivers in Guiyu badly polluted.
Luckily, the Chinese government wants to change the situation. China passed a new environmental protection law. Computer companies like Lenovo and Dell will be asked to take back their old computers. Hopefully, the problem with e-waste will be solved in the near future.
A 12-year-old girl from Virginia, US, never thought that a simple message she put online could bring her big problems. She posted the words, "Killing. Meet me in the library Tuesday", with three emojis(表情符号)of a gun, a knife and a bomb(炸弹) on Instagram, a social media (社交媒体). She was told that she broke the law because of threatening (威胁) her school.
This problem is not far away from us. Ni Hanxiang, a Chinese student at a university in the US, was sent back to China after expressing on social media that he would kill his teachers if he failed to pass his exams.
In China, posting threatening words online is also against the law. In 2013, Wu Hongfei, a singer, got into trouble for saying on weibo that she wanted to blow up a building.
"Threatening happens not only face to face but also through the Internet, social media and the telephone," said Mr Cao, a lawyer from Chongqing. "Although the law of China protects people's right of free speech, it doesn't include words that threaten others' lives and national safety."
"Some people may not mean to threaten. They may just be trying to say 'I' m strong'", said Fred Pratt, a lawyer from the US.
The girl's mother said her daughter was a good kid who had never been in trouble before. Ni Hangxiang also said he didn't realize that what he put online was so serious.
"But not knowing the law doesn't mean the law will treat you any differently if you break it," says David Allen Green, a lawyer from the UK. So, do you think we'd better spend a minute or two thinking about the words or emojis we use on social media before we press "send"?
Basketball is a much-loved and active sport that is enjoyed by many for fun and exercise. It is over 100 years old and (play) by more than 100 million people in over 200 countries.
Today, the popularity of basketball has risen around me world, with many young people dreaming of (become) famous players. In China, you can see people playing basketball now and then in parks, schools and even (factory). Basketball has not only become popular sport to play, also has become a popular sport to watch. Although America's NBA games are the (famous) in the world, the CBA games are becoming more popular in China. The number the foreign players, including Chinese players, in me NBA is increasing. There (be) also more and more foreign players in the CBA. Many young people look up to these basketball heroes and want to become like (they). These stars encourage young people (work) hard to achieve their dreams.
