Prana was a beautiful dog, whose name means “breath of life”. Although he died several years ago, I can still remember the days we spent together and what he has taught me about love.

    I have two apple trees in the garden. Prana loved apples. When he went outside, he'd catch an apple and take it into the house to eat later. The apples had been on the ground and were often dirty so I wasn't always happy that Prana had brought them into the house.

It was an autumn day in America, but it was very cold. A big snow fell and we had not done anything for its coming. On that special day, Prana went outside and I watched him through the window. I noticed that he was madly digging(挖) holes and bringing the apples to the ground so they could be seen above the snow. I did not know why he was doing this. He seemed to want to do something special.

    When I called him back, he had his usual one apple in his mouth. About five minutes later, I looked outside. The garden was completely covered with birds. Prana had dug up all those apples for his bird friends to eat. He knew that they wouldn't have stored enough food for the coming winter!

    It was a village in India. The people were poor. However, they were happy. After all, their forefathers (祖先) had lived in the same way for centuries (世纪).

    Then one day, some visitors from the city arrived. They told the villagers there were some people who liked to eat frogs' legs. However, they did not have enough frogs of their own, so they wanted to buy frogs from other places.

    This seemed like money for nothing. There were millions of frogs in the fields around, and they were no use to the villagers. All they had to do was to catch them. They reached an agreement and people sent their children into the fields to catch frogs. Every week a truck (卡车) arrived to collect the frogs and give them the money. For the first time, the people could dream of a better future, but the dream didn't last (持续) long.

    It was not easy to notice (觉察到) the change at first, but it seemed like the crops (庄稼) were not doing so well. It was more worrying that the children fell ill more often, and there seemed to be more insects (虫) around lately.

    The villagers decided that they couldn't just wait to see the crops failing and the children getting weak. They would have to use the money got to buy pesticides (杀虫剂) and medicines. Soon there was no money left.

    Then the people found out the problem. It was the frog. They were not useless. They had been doing an important job—eating insects. Now with so many frogs killed, the insects were increasing (增加) more quickly. They were eating the crops and spreading diseases (传播疾病).

    Now, the people are still poor. But in the evenings they sit in the village square and listen to sounds of insects and frogs. These sounds of the night now have a much deeper meaning.

    Last year，I went to Beijing Qizhi Special Education School for community service （社区服务）Before we took the bus，my friend asked me a question："Why are you here？"I did not know how to answer the question．

    The school was not far from my school，but it looked like it was in a different world．A group of children were waiting for us，A boy walked toward me．He held my hands and pulled me to the ground．I kissed the earth and tasted nature．

    I could not understand what he was doing at first，then I was very angry．Though I was very anrgy，I controlled my anger．

    A teacher stopped this awkward（尴尬的）silence when she shouted at the boy．"What are you doing right here，right now？"she said．"You will never ace your mom again if you keep doing this．Now say sorry!""Sorry．"he cried fearfully and nervously．I said noting，but I realized something about this child．After lunch I asked the teacher for information about the child's parents．

    She said that the child was very different from other students because of an illness．His family could not afford to treat to treat him．He needed the kindness of his family，but they had abandoned him．So he depended on the support from the teachers and community service workers like us．

    I suddenly realiazed I could answer the question my friend asked me at the beginning of the day．

Community service workers help others and make everyone feel better．There are so many people in the world that need help．Playing with lonely children may not make a big difference．But in can light a corner in the children's hearts，making them know they are loved by people．

    Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, died on Decembr5, 2013 at 95.

    Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. He grew up in a poor village in South Africa. At school, Mandela learned about African history and the fight against racism(种族歧视).He wanted to help his countrymen. Later Mandela studied law at a university. He also joined a group that fought against apartheid(种族隔离).At that time, in South Africa, blacks were not allowed to use the same public toilets or chairs as whites, and they couldn't travel on the same buses as whites, either. Mandela hated this and he traveled all over South Africa and fought to end apartheid. As a result, he was put into prison(监狱) and stayed about 27 years there.

    On February 10, 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk released(释放)Mandela from prison, and the two worked together to end apartheid. Three years later, they won the Nobel Peace Prize,

    In1994, Mandela became President of South Africa. One year later, he created the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, a charity that helps poor South African children." Children are the future of our country," he said in an interview in2002. "They must be given love."

    Mandela served as President until 1999. He worked to improve housing and education for the country's large black population.