Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” These are certainly words that millions of volunteers around the world could agree with. In the US, April is National Volunteer Month, to thank volunteers who lend their time and support to what they care about.

【小题1】 People who volunteer spend their time doing things they feel strongly about, but not for money. For example, animal lovers may volunteer at an animal centre to help improve the treatment of animals.

Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people, try out new skills and think about career choices. 【小题2】 Take Andrew Makhoul, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, as an example. Andrew didn’t spend his last spring holiday relaxing. Instead, the 19-year-old boy decided to do something for people who were less lucky than himself. He travelled to an orphanage in Guatemala in Central America. 【小题3】 And it depends on volunteers to stay open.

Andrew doesn’t speak much Spanish, but he found communication wasn’t a problem, “You communicated with love,”according to an article on his university’s website. And what he gave out; he got back, “ 【小题4】”Andrew’s first time as a volunteer only lasted a week, but by the end of that week, he knew he’d be back soon—because he saw love and hope.

Last Sunday morning, I had a yard sale with my sister. We set up a long table in the yard and placed many old things on it. We made a poster (海报) to tell people that we wanted to raise some money for a student in our school. The student was ill but her parents didn’t have enough money to take her to hospital.

Maybe because of our kindness, our sale went very well. We were very happy because the fewer old things we left, the more money we could raise for the student. Just then, a boy came to our sale. He looked at many things and finally picked a necklace (项链). “How much is this?” he asked. “Twenty,” I answered.

He took out some coins from his pocket and counted. Then he asked us, “Could I have it for 15 yuan? This is all I have.” We wondered why the boy wanted to buy a necklace. So I said, “Why do you want to buy it?” “Tomorrow is my mother’s birthday. I want to give this nice necklace to her as a gift. At the same time, I can also do something for the student who needs help. I think my mother will be happy about what I do.”

My sister and I were both moved by him. So we decided to let the boy buy it for 15 yuan. After saying thanks to us, he went away with the necklace happily. And we were happy, too.

Hello! I’m Li Yingying. I’m thirteen years old. I am from Beijing. I’m in No. 8 Middle School. Here is a photo. The boys and girls in the photo are from a poor area (地区) of Guizhou. They are very poor and they don’t have many school things. So all the students in my class want to help them. These things are for them— 10 pencil boxes, 8 rulers, 10 erasers, 18 schoolbags and 15 picture books.

Some of our teachers help them, too. They give them two computers, five dictionaries and nine maps. Do you want to help the boys and girls? E-mail me at Bangbang@qq.com. Thanks!