Last Thursday, Michael and Linda stood behind large food trucks distributing meals to 4,000 homeless people for their wedding reception on the border town of Kilis. The couple had decided that instead of hosting their friends and family for a traditional feast reception,they would feed the victims from an earthquake-stricken area.

    The idea came from the bridegroom's father, Ted, who volunteers for a Turkish relief organization. For the past few years, the organization has distributed daily meals to thousands of people who've suffered from natural disasters. He approached a representative of the organization and suggested that the family cover part of the costs of feeding them for the day.

    Then he told his son, who was surprised by the suggestion, but soon won over. When he told that to the bride, she was really shocked but finally accepted because in southeastern Turkey there is areal culture of sharing with people in need. They love to share their food, their table and everything they have. And afterwards she was quite amazed about it. So, they arrived at the distribution center on Thursday to spend the day serving food and taking photographs with their grateful recipients（接受者）.

    On Tuesday evening, the newly married couple were still pleased with their decision to quit a personal celebrationfor one with a greater good. "It's like sharing a dinner with your friends and family who have this kind of thing on a daily basis or sharing something with people who don't even have the most basic things," Michael said."Hopefully, this will also give the start for other wedding dinners to be held here with our brothers and sisters in need."

    The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history that has so far killed almost 1000 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in West Africa has caused fear around the world.

    The outbreak is unprecedented（空前的）both in infection numbers and in geographic scope. Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month the outbreak “is moving faster than our efforts to control it”, reported CNN. So far, the battle against the virus doesn't appear to be slowing down.

    The Ebola virus is terrifying no matter where it strikes: It's a disease with no cure that causes headaches and fever, severe diarrhea(腹泻), vomiting and bleeding and has been known to kill up to 90 percent of its victims.

    It is understandable for people to be panicked, but those living outside Africa shouldn't be particularly concerned about contracting the virus, says a Washington Post article.

    This is because transmission of Ebola requires direct contact with an infected person's blood, vomit or other bodily fluids during the period that he or she is contagious(接触传染的). It is something that is extremely unlikely for anyone but healthcare workers. The virus is not spread by coughing or sneezing.

    Media outlets in the US and the UK are using terrifying headlines, wrongly claiming that people infected with the virus have traveled to their countries.

    James Ball at The Guardian says the Ebola outbreak in Africa is tragic, but it is important to keep a sense of proportion. Other infectious diseases, including common influenza, are far, far deadlier.

    There is an old saying about volunteer work that goes like this: “ No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”

    Today, many people volunteer their time and energy to help others. There are a lot of ways to meet other people's needs. For example, some volunteers provide help after a disaster. Others are happy to get dirty while repairing homes or planting trees or flowers in poor neighborhoods. Young people see suffering and loneliness around them and find ways to help. And history lovers help archeologists(考古学家) search for ancient objects to help deepen our knowledge of the past.

    Volunteers work in many areas around the world, including Haiti. More than four years have passed since a 7.0 earthquake shook the nation. The exact number of people who died may never be known. Thousands of survivors of the Haitian earthquakes still live in temporary shelters. Last year, former American President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn joined five hundred volunteers in the town of Leogane to build houses.

    Organizations do not have to be large to get volunteers. An activist group in Dharamsala, India is a good example, Jodie Underhill from England arrived in northern India several years ago. She planned to volunteer for an environmental project. She could almost not believe how much rubbish was ruining some of the area's most beautiful sights. Jodie Underhill learned about how to deal with the rubbish while taking part in other volunteer projects. But soon enough she formed her own group, Mountain Cleaners. Jodie Underhill says the work is very hard. But she praises the group's efforts as a wonderful experience. The young Englishwoman says the Indian media started calling her “Garbage Girl”. And she says she was pleased with the name.

    American teenagers also volunteer in many ways .

    There is no doubt that many parents want to mold (塑造)their child to be better, faster, smarter and more skilled. Even though human parents can't do that, a robot that builds its own children can. Scientists at the University of Cambridge in England have created a mother robot that not only creates its own children, but tests out their performance.

    The mother robot analyzes(分析)the performance of each of the “children” it creates, and passes down good characters to the next generation

    For example, as the mother creates them and puts them to work, she measures how they're behaving, and she uses data from this behavior to create the next generation of robots.

    The mother robot can actually build hundreds of child robots and see the performance of these child robots. And if their performance is good, keep their design for the next generation. And if bad, just let it go.

    “We program the robots based on some functions that define(规定)the reward the robots are going to get, depending on the construction that they make. They cannot change their own reward. For the child robot, the longer the distance the robot walks, the better the reward it receives,” said Fumiya Iida, the lead researcher.

    After several generations, the “children” were running twice as fast.

    “The mother robot produced 500 robots to see which one is good and which one is bad,” said Iida.

    The researchers believe that the machines can be used in a car factory, for example, where robot cameras examine each ear in production line, find out any mistakes, and then design a better car.

    Charity Cycling UK recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of dooring after discovering that many people don't know what it is. Dooring is when a driver or passenger opens the door into another road user—typically cyclist—without looking for other road users.

    Cycling UK chief executive Paul Tuohy told Gloucestershire Live: “Some people seem to see car dooring as a bit of a joke, but it's not and can have serious consequences. Cycling UK wants to see great awareness made about the dangers of opening your car door carelessly, and people to be encouraged to look before they open.”

    The charity says 2,009 of the 3,000 injuries were sustained by cyclists, resulting in five fatalities but says this might not be the full extent of the danger.

    Cycling UK says not all car dooring incidents will be attended by police, so the charity has written to transport minister Jesse Norman calling for a public awareness campaign urging all car occupants, not just drivers, to look before opening vehicle doors. One of the ways the charity suggests is the “Dutch reach”, where people leaving a vehicle reach over and use the non-door side hand to open the door.

    Cycling UK also suggests harsher laws and advice on safer road positioning for people who cycle.

    Mr. Tuohy said: “In the Netherlands they are known for practicing a method, known sometimes as the 'Dutch reach', which we think could be successfully encouraged in the UK.”

    “Cycling UK has written to the Department for Transport asking them to look into this, and highlight the dangers of 'car dooring' through a public awareness THINK style campaign.”

    If you're really concerned about opening a door into the path of a cyclist coming behind you, consider using what's known as the “Dutch reach” to open the door. That will naturally turn you in your seat and give you a much better view of what's coming up alongside in the car.

    On a recent trip to the island of Newfoundland, Canada, my husband asked our talkative cab driver what made him most proud to be a native.

    "Our generosity and hospitality (好客)" he replied in a strong local accent. "If your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, someone will stop to help. People here are kind like that." His answer rang in my mind during that ride with my husband and teenage kids, as we headed out to explore on the first day of our vacation.

    Little did I know we were about to experience some of that remarkable Newfoundland kindness for ourselves. We met Alma that same morning at the start of a long hike. Our teenagers hurried ahead, and as we walked behind, admiring the scenery, two women in sunglasses and summer hiking equipment stopped. They'd heard us discussing different routes, and then asked if we'd like suggestions. They looked to be in their 40s, and were both enthusiastic to share their local expertise.

    We listened eagerly, taking mental notes, until one of the women asked, "You have a car, right?" I explained that there were no cars available during our week on the island, so we had to rely on cabs instead.

    "Oh no," she said, "you need a car." And then, as casually as if offering a piece of chewing gum (口香糖), she said, "Take mine!" My husband and I just smiled in disbelief, dumbfounded.

    "Why not?" she insisted. "You need a car to get to know all these places."

    "But you don't even know us," I said.

    "That doesn't matter," she continued with absolute determination.

    Surprised, I looked over at her friend, who shrugged and said, "That's Alma."

    Forty minutes of talking later, my family climbed into Alma's car. We spent the rest of our vacation discovering different areas of this beautiful island. But it wasn't the groups of whales we saw, or the vast areas of woodland, that made this place so memorable. Instead, it was the act of kindness from a complete stranger that made us realize how special Newfoundland really was.

    Next year, there's no doubt where we'll be taking our summer vacation. Who knows what act of kindness we'll meet then?