Now students' English handwriting gets worse and worse. Their teachers worry about that. Is your English handwriting beautiful? If not, here are four steps that really work!

Use paper with lines 

      Using paper with lines can keep you writing straight instead of up or down when you write English words or sentences. Those lines on the paper can help you to write words in the right size. Be sure to fill the lined space completely. And remember that those capital letters are written properly.

Slow down 

If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. For some kids, going a little slowly makes the handwriting clear. If you write too fast, it's hard for you to stop where you should, and even worse, you may make more mistakes.

Hold your pencil correctly 

When you hold your pencil correctly, writing is much easier. Some kids press down really hard when they write. That makes the handwriting not nice. Try to be relaxed and don't hold the pencil so hard. Let your writing appear nice and clean. If you do so, people will guess you are a student with a good habit.

Draw more pictures 

      Drawing can improve your handwriting. You need to use the skills to control your pencil better when you are drawing pictures. Even though you have no chance to draw at school, you can practice by yourself at home.

Handwriting is very important. Imagine you are a world-famous movie star or a well-known sports player, what do you do when your fans run up to you? Give them your autographs, of course!

    I'm Li Ling. It's Tuesday today. I'm really busy today. At 8:00 I have maths. I don't like it because it's difficult. Then at 9:00, I have science.  It's also difficult but interesting. At 10:00, I have history. Then at 11:00, I have PE.

    That's my favourite subject. I have lunch at 12:00 at school. After that, I have music. It's relaxing (令人放松的). I love my music teacher—Miss Morgan. She is beautiful and kind. She's my favourite teacher. All my classes finish(结束) at 2:00. After school I play tennis with my classmates. It's fun. I love sports. Then at around 4:00 I go home and do my homework.

    One day, the father of a very rich family took his son on a trip to the countryside. He wanted to show his son that how poor people there were. They spent a few days and nights on the farm. After they came back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How did you like our trip?"

    "It was great, Dad."

    "Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

    "Oh yeah," said the son.

    "So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

    "I see that we have one dog and they have four. We have beautiful lights in our garden, and they have the stars at night. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that have no ends. We have servants(仆人) who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, and they grow theirs. We have fences to protect us, and they have friends to protect them."

    "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are," said the son. The boy's father didn't know what to say then.

    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 praise and thank volunteers who lend their time, talent, and support to what they care about.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} People who volunteer spend their time doing things they feel strongly about. 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 explore career choices. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Take Andrew Makhoul, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, as an example. Andrew didn't spend his last spring break relaxing. Instead, the 19-year-old boy decided to do something for people who were less lucky than himself. He travelled to an orphanage (孤儿院) in Guatemala in Central America. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 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, "{#blank#}4{#/blank#}" 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.

    US author Sherry Anderson once wrote, "{#blank#}5{#/blank#}" And this is perhaps why volunteers all around the world keep doing what they do — their work is "priceless".
 

A. It is in one of the poorest parts of the country.

B. You could see love when you looked in their eyes.

C. Volunteering means choosing to work without being paid.

D. It's a chance for poor children to get better care and support.

E. Life will be difficult, but I have the confidence to live a happy, full life.

F. For young adults, valuable lessons may also be learned through volunteering.

G. Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless.