When Russell Lyons volunteered for the first time, he read “Goodnight Moon” to a class of San Diego preschoolers. And it wasn't reading — he'd memorized the book and was reciting it out loud. He was 4. Still, he said it felt good there, in front of the other kids, lending a hand. He wanted more of that feeling.

    Thirteen years later, he's getting a lot of it. He's on a five-month road trip across America — not sightseeing, but volunteering.

    The University City resident has spent time at an animal reserve in Utah, a women's shelter in St. Louis, a soup kitchen in New York, a retirement home in Tucson. This week he's in Los Angeles, at a program that supports disabled youth.

    “I just like helping people and feeling that something I do is making a difference,” he said. He resists the idea that his “Do Good Adventure” is all that unusual. It bothers him that the media often describe young people as lazy, self-centered. So he sees his trip as a chance to make a statement, too. “About 55 percent of teens do volunteer work, higher than the rate for adults” he said, according to a 2002 study. “Not everybody knows that. ”

    Of course, some teens do volunteer work because it looks impressive on their college applications. Lyons said he mentioned his trip on his applications. But charity work is a habit with him. Even before the cross country trip, he was volunteering about 200 hours a year at various places. He's made sandwiches for homeless families in Washington D.C. He's taught math to fifth-graders in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

    He gets some of that drive from his mother, Lesley Lyons, who has been involved in nonprofits for much of her life. She was there when her son “read” to the preschoolers — a memory of hers “that will never go away.”

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

Your next car could have two seats, three wheels—two in front and one in the back and a top speed of more than 100 miles per hour. Elio Motors plans to make such a tiny car named the Elio. Its two seats sit front and back instead of side by side. The driver is positioned in the center with the passenger directly behind.

    The starting price for the car is just $6,800. It has only one door, on the left side, which cuts a few hundred dollars off the manufacturing costs. Having three wheels also makes it cheaper. It has air conditioning, power windows and door locks and an AM/FM radio. More features can be ordered through Elio's long list of suppliers. Elio will also sell the cars directly through its own stores and not through franchised dealers (特约经销商).

    Paul Elio dreamed as a kid that he would one day own a car company called Elio Motors. In 2008, tired of high gas prices, he started working on a car that burns gas in a more effective way. Equally important to him was creating U.S. manufacturing jobs and making the car inexpensive enough to attract buyers who might otherwise be stuck in their old, unreliable (不可靠的)cars. “Whatever matters to you, this can move the needle on it,” he said.

    Already, more than 27,000 people have reserved (预订)one. Paul hopes to make 250,000 cars a year by 2016. So far, reservation holders are those who will use the Elio as a second car or third car for work. Finally, though, he believes the car will interest high school and college students as well as used-car drivers who want something newer and more reliable.

    The old man walked with a cane（拐杖）slowly into the restaurant. His poor jacket.

    patched（打补丁）trousers and worn-out shoes made him stand out from the usual Saturday morning breakfast crowd. Unforgettable were his pale blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds，large rosy cheeks，and thin lips held in a steady smile.

    He walked towards a table by the window. A young waitress watched him and ran over to him， saying，“Here, Sir. Let me give you a hand with that chair”

    Without a word，he smiled and nodded a thank you. She pulled the chair away from the table. Steadying him with one arm， she helped him move in front of the chair， and get comfortably seated. Then she pushed the table up close to him，and learned his cane against the table where he could reach it.

    In a soft，clear voice he said, “Thank you, Miss”

    “You are welcome, Sir.” she replied，“My name is Mary. I'll be back in a moment. If you need anything, just wave at me.”

    After he had finished a hearty meal of pancakes，bacon，and hot lemon tea，Mary brought him the change, helping him up from his chair and out from behind the table. She handed him his cane， and walked with him to the front door. Holding the door open for him, she said, “Come back and see us, Sir.”

    He nodded a thank you and said softly with a smile, “You are very kind！”

    When Mary went to clean his table，she was shocked. Under his plate she found a business card and a note written on the napkin, under which was a 100$ bill.

    The note on the napkin read，“Dear Mary，I respect you very much， and you respect yourself，too. It shows by the way you treat others. You have found the secret of happiness. Your kind gestures will shine through those who meet you. ”

    The man she had served was the owner of the restaurant. This was the first time that she，or any of his employees, had seen him in person.

    Katie Blomquist, a lst grade teacher at Pepperhill Elementary School in North Charleston, South Carolina, learned last year that one of her students wanted a bike for his birthday. But his parents could not afford it. So, like most other people that you will find here on InspireMyKids, she decided to do something about it!

    First, she thought about how to get a bike for that child. Then, she decided to think bigger. How could she also give a bike to his brother? Or how about a bike to every child in her class? Finally, her vision got even bolder! How might she find bikes for the 650 poor kids that make up her entire school. Even though Ms. Blomquist could not afford to buy the bikes herself, she felt she now had to do something about it!

    So, she decided to start a GoFundMe campaign to raise money. Her request caught on! In less than 6 months, over 1,000 donors from around her community, and even 10 countries around the world, provided over $80,000 in donations! This was enough to buy more than 600 bikes for Pepperhill students, along with locks!

After a big ceremony to surprise the kids, Ms. Blomquist's effort is not done. Katie Blomquist is starting a charity called “Going Places”, with a mission to bring joy to deserving children from low income families by providing them with bikes, swim lessons, summer camp chances, and more. This will enrich their growth and fuel their imaginations, supporting the most basic childhood right—a right to joy. And she has started yet another campaign for her chairty to help more schools and kids!

    When I was about 5 years old, I experienced my very first random act of kindness. I was sitting at the roadside one evening, crying alone for some reason when suddenly, a boy came up to me and gave me a plastic rose, I remember the moment when I took the rose from his hand; I was smiling from ear to ear, whispering "I want to be like him" to myself as I watched him walking away.

    From then on, I made it as my life mission to do random acts of kindness whenever I can. I was very determined to make other people smile. That was the only reason why I joined my school's Red Crescent Society and became a volunteer. Unfortunately, not everyone thinks in the same way as I did. Whenever I do something nice to others, people around me will start to judge my actions. Often I will just keep quiet and ignore what they say, but every once in a while, they do drive me up the wall.

    These people like to complain about how humans nowadays are lacking of humanities and compassion. However, when they actually see somebody doing a good deed in front of them, they start to question and criticize that person's honesty. Perhaps it is the increasing crime rate and the never-ending rat race that caused them to be so suspicious to nice strangers. In other words, people nowadays have lost sight of the real meaning of kindness and just let it go unnoticed. That is why I think random acts of kindness are really important. These selfless acts are not only capable of bringing joy to the receivers but also to the givers. Because of this, I want to help spread the idea of these random acts to the whole world. I want to show the people how the little things they give could make a big difference in someone else's life.

    In 2011, the old style Malta buses were taken off the road and replaced by modern vehicles. Most of the old buses were deserted, a few were sold, and about 100 of them were put into storage in the hope of showing them in a museum at some stage.

    A pre-2011 visit to Malta wouldn't have been complete without a ride on one of the colorful buses. Until 1973 you could tell the destination of the bus just by looking at its color — Sliema was green and white, Zabbar was red and white with a blue stripe(条纹)etc. . Later, the buses all had numbers. For a while, they were all painted green and white before the ‘final' orange, yellow and white.

    In their prime, walking around the Triton fountain at the Valletta bus station, you would have found it very difficult to see two buses of exactly the same design. Most of them had locally built bodies. On the front of the buses carried names like Dodge, Leyland, Bedford etc. You were equally likely to find football pennants(锦旗)and the like decorating the cabs. Real bus experts would have recognized that these were there mainly for decorative reasons, and were seldom an accurate reflection of the vehicle's origins.

    Nowadays much more modern buses are to be found at the Floriana bus station. They are more environmentally friendly and possibly even more comfortable than the older types. However, I miss the old buses. I remember, when you boarded your bus, you had to prepare the correct change to pay the usually bad-tempered driver as you got on. If you were seated anywhere near the front, you would have noticed that most drivers sat well to the right of their steering wheel. The reason for this, as any Maltese would tell you, was to leave space for their pet to sit alongside them. I wonder where the pet sits these days.