If you have no special plans for your holidays, why not spend your time helping others?

    Don't listen to people who say the young people today often think only of themselves. It's not true at all. More and more people in the USA volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don't do it for money. Here are some of their stories.

Alice Hamilton, 17

    I'm going to help the Forest Centre build new hiking paths in the mountains. It's going to be terrific—I'll spend the whole summer living in the tent and breathing the clean mountain air. I'm going to sleep under the stars. It'll be a nice sport, and I'll be able to do something good at the same time.

Jason Moore, 18

    This summer, I'm going to volunteer with Special House Program. They build good, low-cost houses and sell them to families that are not very rich. They'll teach me what to do, so I'll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses.

Trish Anderson, 16

    I'm going to teach kids who have trouble reading. I'll work for a program called Reading For Life. Every day, I'm going to help kids choose and read books that they like. I want to be a teacher and I love children and reading, so this is going to be a great experience for me.

    July is the time for some students to say goodbye to their mother schools. Every time it comes, I will think of my old deskmate, Xiaowei. She is the most unforgettable classmate in my junior high school life. It has been many years since I graduated, but she is still in my mind clearly.

    Xiaowei was a lovely girl with long black hair. On hot days, her hair was sometimes seen to be tied up. She was always wearing a sweet smile. She was an artistic(文艺范的)girl who showed up before me every day. She loved reading novels and drawing.

    She liked reading different kinds of novels, especially on history. She could finish reading a historical novel as thick as our Chinese textbook at an amazing speed.

    Whenever she had free time, she would take out a drawing note and start drawing cartoons with a pencil. She drew from characters' heads to eyes and to faces, but the characters were always long-haired and wide-eyed. One day I couldn't help asking," Why don't you colour them?" She answered simply, "Because I don't have enough time." She kept her works as a secret and never talked about them with others. When we were told that she had won a prize in the drawing competition in her group, my classmates felt surprised.

    There is a folk song called My Old Deskmate, which is sung widely among people of different ages. It was created because the creator, Gao Xiaosong, had never forgotten his deskmate. Whenever I hear it, I will think of Xiaowei. How are you, my old deskmate?

    My father is tall and has short gray hair. He wears glasses with heavy black frames(框架). Today I find a picture of him in 1968. What a surprise! In the picture, he's 15 years old. He's short and he has glasses with small round frames. He has long black hair and it's really straight. He's wearing blue jeans and a T shirt with the word "Love". I'm 15 years old now. I'm of medium height and I have short hair. My hair isn't black, but it's brown. My dad thinks it's strange, but my friends think it's great. I wear glasses, but my glasses have square(方的) red frames. They are so cool. I never wear blue jeans. I like big and baggy pants and long T shirts. Most of my T shirts have pictures of my favorite actors or singers on them.

A 17-year-old Chinese girl, from Inner Mongolia, has broken several school records in long-distance running lately. And she owes (归功于) her excellent performance to her father: He not only accompanies (陪伴) his daughter on her runs every morning, but he has also built a simple "gym" for her.

Zheng Guohua, a student in high school starts her run on the street with her father at four o'clock every morning. Her father, Zheng Long, always rides a motorcycle to accompany her.

Besides running, the father has also worked out a stricter training plan for his daughter, and built a simple "gym" by himself. Zheng Long made good use of something old that he collected during his spare time to set up the gym. It took him half a month to build the gym so his daughter could exercise better.

Every time during the school sports meeting, he attends his daughter's competitions, which gives her a feeling of pride. Zheng Guohua said, "My classmates envy (羡慕) me for having such a loving and caring father. They all want to have a father like mine."

In Zheng Guohua's eyes, her father is not only a serious coach with a loud voice during training, but also a good friend to accompany her along the way. Zheng Guohua said that there were times when she wanted to give up training, however, she encouraged herself with her father's words: "Only by paying the price of Superman can we get the harvest (收获) of Superman." In the end, she overcame the difficulties because she always thought people should make their efforts to realize their own dreams, although there were some difficulties in life.

At the age of 73, Chen Shaoqi n from Beijing has shown the world how life should be lived.

Although she only had a middle school education, Chen began studying English at the age of 40 and passed a college entrance exam, making herself from a factory worker to a white- collar clerk in an international trade company. Chen continued to study art after retirement(退休) and finally became an art guide at the age of 67. Over the past five years, she has guided visitors at an art center for three days a week, totaling 3,500 hours.

From an old lady who knew nothing about modern art to a volunteer guide, Chen's hard work and love for learning have encouraged many people. She said that she must continue to learn. As a guide, she is able to attend professional training courses and has the chances to learn from artists and curators (馆长), which gives her encouragement to continue.

Chen has guided many exhibitions over the years, including those of famous artists like Zeng Fanzhi, Xu Bing, Qiu Zhijie and Pab lo Picasso. She believes that every tour is a beautiful journey and a new chance to learn and be moved. Her effort of learning and her ability to mix many subjects have made her an excellent guide. After turning73 this year, she believes that the width of one's life can be expanded(扩展) through self- improvement and learning.

Chen Shaoqi n is a best example that anyone can find their passion(热爱) and then learn, grow and share with others.