For the first time in the history of the Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou marathons, fourteen blind runners competed in the Nov 6 Hangzhou Marathon this year with the assistance of personal guides. Each runner was supported by 4 or 5 volunteers. Among them was Yan Wei, from a running group called “Running in the Dark”, which specially provides training for blind runners.

During trainings, blind runners are each accompanied by three volunteers. One volunteer is responsible for removing any obstacles（障碍物）on the road and controlling the pace. The second

Zhu Peihua, the leader of the group’s Shanghai branch, first developed a passion for running last year when he took part in a guided running activity. Zhu said that he was so fascinated with

The popularity of guided running activities for blind people has been growing since last year. Cheng Yi, a volunteer at Running in the Dark’s Hangzhou branch, said that both the numbers of blind runners and volunteers to become assistants to them are rising continually. However, he added that volunteers face a more physically demanding task compared to a regular runner. Some

“At the beginning, I kept saying ‘here’ and ‘there’ instead of ‘left’ or ‘right’ which is much more specific and relevant to the runner. A blind runner once collided with another runner because of my mistake. Luckily, no one was hurt,” said Cheng. Through everything, according to Cheng, he and many of the blind runners he has guided become close friends with shared topics and increased understandings.

Helping people is the backbone of a healthy society. 【小题1】 This statement is true and the following are some of the major benefits of assisting other people.

【小题2】 Researchers have done lots of work to prove that helping others does have a great effect on a person’s happiness. Even though we usually feel the urge to compete with other people, taking time to assist others can be very beneficial to us. The key to internal joy and happiness is simply helping those in need.

Build trust. When people see that you have genuine intentions of assisting them, it is likely they are going to be very grateful. 【小题3】 Helping people is also a good way to create and develop trusty relationship, particularly if you never expect anything to be given to you in return.

Improve the community. The mentality of helping people is increasing in popularity since more people have realized that we do not need to fight for survival. A rising number of individuals now assist others without asking for anything back. This has resulted in the change in attitude and people are now more giving, more willing and also much readier to offer assistance. 【小题4】

Helping other people is important as it helps to connect many people together.

【小题5】 The end result is an inspired community in general.