Ellen MacArthur is a British sportswoman. On 7 February 2005, she broke the world record for sailing alone around the world. She recorded her amazing journey through the world’s most dangerous seas with a video diary. And she immediately became internationally famous.

Ellen was born in England in 1976 and lived there with her parents, who were both teachers, and her two brothers. She began sailing with her aunt Thea when she was just four years old, and spent the rest of her time reading books about sailing.

When she was eight, she started to save her school dinner money to buy her first boat. She was eleven when she had enough money to buy it. When she was seventeen, Ellen bought another boat and named it “Iduna”. In 1995 she sailed it on her own around Great Britain.

In 2009 she said that she was going to stop sailing, and a year later she gave away £500, 000 of her own money to create a charity (慈善机构) called the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. The charity works through business and education to encourage young people to think differently about the future. She wants to help people to design different ways of reusing energy and to get more people using renewable (可再生) energy.

By 2050, Ellen says there will be more plastic than fish in the sea, and she wants her charity to do something about this. Ellen says that changing people’s attitudes (态度) to the way they use things and throw them away is the greatest challenge of her life yet.

Living in China, it is easy for us to get clean water. However, in many other places around the world, clean water is unavailable. Take Liberia (利比里亚) as an example. Many people there have no choice but to drink dirty water. Every year, many children die of diarrhea （腹泻）.

Destinee Whitaker learned this when she entered high school. The problem worried her a lot. The American girl wanted to make a difference. She shared her wish with her schoolmates. Together, they discussed how to help people in Liberia.

The students decided to donate water purification systems (水质净化系统) to Liberia. To raise money, they held bake sales at their school. Finally, they collected enough money. Whitaker gave a check (支票) to people in Liberia. The local people were excited about the “gift”. They were moved by what the students had done.

Remember: Not everyone in the world has what we have. Not everyone lives the way we live. By putting her “big dream” into action, Whitaker changed the lives of many Liberian people. Then, what can you do to make this world a better place?

Do you want to live in a beautiful city? What can we do to make our city more beautiful? Come to take part in “Clean and Green Weekend”. Please join us and you can not only make some new friends but also help protect(保护) the environment(环境).

Do you usually go to the park with your friends? If so, why not take the chance to come with us to tidy up the park as you go? There will be a gift for the person who collect the most litter. Meet us at the north entrance(入口) to Jinshan Park at 9:30 a.m. next Saturday if you want to join us.

Some students think graffiti(涂鸦) is cool: However, it isn’t. We are going to repaint our school walls at l p.m. this Sunday. Let’s do it together to stop our school buildings from becoming tally covered(被覆盖) with graffiti. You don’t have to bring any tools. Just remember to wear some old clothes.

Do you want to make the air clean and do you want to make the environment better? A great way to make the air cleaner is to plant more trees. Please come and help us plant some new trees in Xiangshan Park at 2 p.m. next Saturday.