It was a cold winter day. Two beggars(乞丐) were sitting at the ________ of a busy street. They looked helpless as people ________.

It was getting late and when they were getting ready ________ the street corner, they saw a man walking toward them. He was a ________ man. They could know that from the modern business suit he was wearing.

The man took ________ out of his bag. Then something that looked like a piece of hard candy in a piece of paper, was ________ each of the beggars’ waiting hats. Then the man turned and continued ________ without saying a word.

________ the man left, the tall beggar said to the short one, “He could ________ leave us a few coins, but he just gave us a piece of hard candy. Who does he think we are ________?

There’s no way we can even eat this—we have no teeth. Then he ________ the “candy” from his hat and threw it away.

The short beggar looked down at the “candy” in his hat. His ________ thought was to throw it away like the tall beggar. But his second thought made him ________ his mind.

“I haven’t had anything like this for many years he thought. I can’t chew(咀嚼) it, but I can suck(吸吮) on it for a moment. ________ nice man! He offered me something so sweet.

Then he opened the paper. To ________ surprise, there was no hard candy inside. Instead, there was a shiny white pearl(珍珠) that he could sell for thousands of dollars.

Last year, I finished high school and came to Canada for further study. I surprisingly found that volunteering _________most of Canadian teenagers’ spare time. Later, I got to know volunteering is quite _________among people of all ages in Canada, as they believe that being helpful is one of the most important _________to have.

Now I am volunteering for a charity (慈善机构). My job is to help the teachers at the Chinese language school. I’m for a preschool (学前) class, where students are aged from 3 to 6.

When I first started, I was quite _________as I had never worked with little kids before. Many questions__________my head. “What if they don’t like me? What if they are afraid of me? What if ...”

As time went on, I knew more about the students. One day, an art teacher asked me to help the youngest girl in the class draw a picture about “thankful”. When I was drawing and _______the meaning of the word to her, she listened carefully, giving back a big _________.From her smile, I could read the true meaning of “thankful”. Suddenly, I _________that it was not that difficult to work with children.When the class was over, I felt really excited and even a little bit proud of__________I had done.

Volunteering gives us a(n) _________to make a difference to someone’s life, including our town. Helping others is always good.

Alice is a 12-year-old girl. Her neighbor had an empty land. It was full of litter. People around often felt _________ in summer.

On a rainy day, Alice looked at the empty area. Then _________ saw some flowers on both sides of the road. A good idea came into her mind at once. Two days later, she _________ her friend a picture of a garden. Ben said, “What a nice _________! But how can we make your idea come true? It’s hard work.” “Let’s ask _________ for help.” Alice said. Then they told what they wanted to do to their neighbors. After hearing the idea, most of them decided to _________ Alice They helped clean away the litter to the dustbin. They also _________ some little trees and different kinds of flowers. Then they planted and watered the trees and flowers _________.

Alice and her friends looked after the garden day after day. At last, there was a beautiful garden _________ lots of litter. _________ the neighbors came here, they were surprised and couldn’t believe their eyes. Alice knew that one small idea could make a big difference.