How long does it take to build a new house? It usually takes about six months or more. But each year, thousands of people work together to build new homes in just four months! Who does this wonderful work? Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is a group that builds homes for families in need. It has branches in different states around the USA. This group works all over the world, too. Volunteers help build the homes. They are unpaid workers. Volunteers can be builders and painters. They can be teachers or bankers. Some are students.

    Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 houses. More than 1.5 million people live in these houses. Building a home is hard work. Volunteers learn how to put up walls. They use tools and machines. These selfless volunteers work with the family that will live in the house. Everyone works together to make the family's dream come true.

    Suruchi Srikanth has worked with Habitat for Humanity for four years. She began volunteering in high school. She has built many homes with other volunteers. She takes her responsibilities(责任) seriously. Volunteers know that if they don't help, homes might not get built. They are good citizens(公民) who care about other people.

    Sweden, a small country in northern Europe, takes up almost the same size as China's Gansu province. But it has earned the title of the country with best fame in the world recently. Sweden does really well on all the different factors(因素) we used to understand what people think of a country. The country is safe, beautiful, friendly and powerful in many aspects(方面)。

    Although it stayed as a neutral(中立的) country through world wars, Sweden is actually very strong in military(军事的) technologies. It was the first country to make stealthy warship that is hard to found by a radar(雷达). Countries like the US and China once bough Sweden's military technologies.

    Some of you must be familiar with IKEA, the world's largest furniture retail(零售商). In China, you can find IKEA in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an and many other big cities. The affordable price and modern design make it popular worldwide.

    When you want to listen to music, you may open QQ music. But many US teens prefer Swedish music service Spotify. Now Spotify has more than 100 million users.

    You may wonder why such a small country can stand out in so many fields, it is possibly because of its good welfare that gives people a safe and comfortable place to live. Moreover, Children can receive free education from kindergarten to university. This provides the country with many talented people.

    In the Middle Eastern country of Syria (叙利亚), there are over 4 million refugees (难民). Youssef was 10 years old when a local Syrian musician discovered his talent: a deep, powerful voice. However, Syria's civil (内部的) war took place. He and his family lost their home.

    When the Action for Hope Music School announced that it was looking for talented children to train, his family encouraged him to attend the school. A year and half later, the now 14-year-old, Youssef, with another 11 children, was chosen to take part in a concert.

    Youssef, a shy boy, was a lead singer in the concert. He gave a confident performance of traditional Syrian songs. “We only heard the sound of a mortar ( 迫 击 炮 ). It fell near us. Many buildings fell down. That is all I remember,” said Youssef. “Music makes me forget everything. Music is the most important thing.”

    Basma, director of Action for Hope, said the music school offers strength to the children who suffer (遭受) from the war. They can find a good way to express themselves and stop thinking of themselves as refugees.

    “Art gives strength. It comes from the ability to create,” Basma said. “People who are in difficult conditions need this strength much more than the rich.”

All Together Now!

    Have you ever heard of homemade music? That's right-homemade music. Music that is made at home can be lots of fun. And all of the family can take part in it. You don't have to have good voices. And you don't need to buy a musical instrument. What a family needs is the willingness to make music.

A singing game my family like is Crazy Voices. Each person sings a different song. But everybody sings at the same time! We do sound a little crazy. But the tunes (曲调) all fit together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Then we just hum the songs. Or we put our hands over our ears. Then we try it again. And crazy voices fill the air. We really have homemade music when we play the Tap-a-Glass. Why? We make the instrument- that's the Tap-a一Glass. This takes some time. First, we hunt for drinking glasses that have a good ring to them. We tap them with a spoon to find out. We need eight glasses- one for each tone (音调) of the scale. How do we get different tones? By putting different amounts of water in the glasses. The more water, the lower the tone. After a while, we have all eight tones of the scale. Now the Tap-a-Glass is ready. One person takes the spoon and taps out a simple tune. We always give the player time to practice a little bit first. Then we try to guess the name of the song.

    Sometimes we do echo (回声) singing. In echo singing, we sing the same song. We pick a simple tune. One person begins to sing. Then a second person starts-right after the first singer! Sure enough, we have homemade music with a homemade echo!

    My family have fun with homemade music. We enjoy the time being together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Sometimes we have to stop because we are laughing s0 hard. But more importantly, we can make music ourselves. To us, it sounds great.

Abingdon School Open Day

    The Open Day this year will be on Saturday, 1 October 2011. The Open Day is for all the family, with activities and displays(展示) about all aspects(方面) of the school. All the teachers, students and parents will attend. The day starts at 9:30 a. m. and finishes at 2:30 p.m.  You are welcome to arrive at any time during the lessons in the morning and afternoon. Please read the outline of Open Day events.

    If you can't come to the Open Day, that's all right. There are many other chances(机会) to visit Abingdon School

    St Helen School and St Katharine School Open Day will be on the same date, so you can also visit those two.

    Parking at the school on the Open Day may be limited(有限的), so you can also park your cars in Lotus Supermarket's car park.  It's just a three-minute walk away.

The map of Abingdon School can be found on the school website-www. abingdon. edu.