Steve visits the nursing home near his house two afternoons each week. On one of those days, he reads to his friend Martin. On the other afternoon, he plays cards and talks with Mrs. Johnson. Steve enjoys spending his extra time this way. He is a volunteer. A volunteer is a person who helps another person or has a job for which he or she does not get paid. A volunteer donates his or her time for free.

    Everyone else in Steve's family is also a volunteer. Steve's mother Mary volunteers one afternoon each week at the local hospital. She talks to patients, delivers flowers, and helps the nurses with odd jobs. Steve's sister Gina volunteers two afternoons at the museum. She welcomes visitors and answers their questions. Steve's father David also is a volunteer. He is a volunteer fire fighter for the town in which they live.

    Steve's family thinks volunteering is very important. Steve's parents think being a volunteer helps to teach values. Steve and his sister learn how to be kind and respect other people.

    Steve's family does volunteer work to give something back to the community. They want to help people who are not as fortunate as they are.

    A family of volunteers

    Qu Juanru is the official inheritor(官方传承人)of Jiaxing City Tongxiang flower—drum opera. She began to be on the stage when she was a teenager." My mother died when I was 14. I've lived with my father since then. In the old days, women were not allowed to perform opera. However, my father always supported me when I tried to sing." Qu said.

    Qu started performing in the local troupe(剧团)called Aimin Flower—Drum Opera. Later, the troupe was disbanded (解散), and she went back to farming.

    After that, the young girl tried to set up the troupe several times but failed. She really lived a hard life at that time. But she didn't give up.

    In 2001, some developers planned to rebuild Wuzhen. They thought a place which has no culture is of little significance(意义).So they wanted to bring back local customs, including the Tongxiang flower—drum opera. Qu was their only hope.

    Knowing she could sing again, Qu was so excited. Whether it's cold or hot. Qu always gives her everything on stage in Wuzhen. She has six rounds(场)of performing every day and each round lasts 30 minutes. In 2017, she was badly ill, yet it didn't stop her.

    "I can still sing and perform. I'd love to be here." Qu said. In her opinion，opera life is a wonderful dream that can't be missed.

    What can we do to help protect the environment? It seems useless to just pick up a piece of trash(垃圾) ,but what will happen if you keep doing it every day? Tommy Kleyn, an ordinary man from the Netherlands, may give you the answer. Tommy Kieyn walked past a polluted river on his way to work every day. It used to be a beautiful view, but the trash on the bank made it dirty and smelly. So Tommy decided to pick up the trash along the river a little bit at a time after work. "It took me about 30 minutes to fill one garbage(垃圾) bag with trash, but one garbage bag didn't seem helpful in a place as polluted as this. I decided to fill one bag of trash each day as I passed by," Tommy said. Every day, Tommy took pictures of the river and shared them on his Facebook page. To his surprise, in just six days, he had made great progress with his cleanup effort(努力) . He felt happy and kept doing it. Gradually, more and more people knew about Tommy's story. Other people in the community began following in his footsteps and cleaning up trash on their way home, too. "The idea is to encourage people to fill one garbage bag with litter each day. It only takes 30 minutes, but it really makes a difference and you will be amazed at how good you feel afterwards, "he said. People from all over the world have been moved and inspired(激励)by Tommy's story. No effort is useless if we keep doing it every day. Ordinary people like you and me can also make a difference to the world we live in if we take actions right now.

Four Funny Inventions

       ①        

    Are you a person who wants to know the time and temperature during the day? You might like Time Temp Glasses. These special glasses show the time above your right eye and a temperature above your left eye. It is surely easier than wearing a watch, and you never have to guess the temperature.

      ②        

    Do you eat too quickly? Do you eat too much? How can the Alarm Fork help you? Aren't you curious? Well, this special fork has two lights: one green and one red. When the green light is on, it's OK to take a bite of food. The fork "knows" when you take a bite, and soon the red light is on. Wait for the green light before you take another bite.

       ③        

    How do you know if your breath(呼气) smells nice or if it smells bad? It's difficult to know, because it's very hard to smell the air that comes out of your own mouth. Smell This is useful for this situation. Smell This covers your nose and your own mouth, so it is easy to smell the air that comes out of your mouth. Does your breath smell nice, or do you need a piece of gum?

       ④       

    Has this ever happened to you? You put a banana in your bag lunch in the morning and when you open the bag at noon, the banana looks like someone drove a car over it. If you put your banana in the Banana Suitcase, this will never happen. It keeps a banana safe, delicious and looking like a banana!