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

Jambo's Story

    In 1986, a video of a frightening event involving a gorilla (大猩猩) and a boy was watched by millions of people around the world. The video is still popular on the Internet today, changed people's opinions of gorillas forever.

    On 31 August, 1986 a couple took their two young sons to Jersey Zoo. When the family arrived, they went to see the gorillas straight away. The father noticed that the children were too small to see the animals, so he picked up his five-year-old son, Levan, and put him on the top of the wall. Then he turned round to pick up his other son.

    When the father turned back, Levan had disappeared. The boy had fallen off the wall, into the gorilla area. The parents looked down and saw that their son was lying on the ground, about four metres below them. He wasn't moving.

    Levan's father tried to climb down into the wall to save the boy, but he was stopped by the other zoo visitors. Slowly, the gorillas came closer to Levan. A large crowd of people had come to see what was happening. Everyone was shouting. They were scared that gorillas might seriously hurt the boy.

    Jambo, a 200kg male gorilla, got to Levan first. He moved carefully around Levan. He softly touched his back. Then he sat down between Levan and the other gorillas. When he saw that a young gorilla had come too close, Jambo stood up and did not let him pass. His message to the other gorillas was clear,”Don't touch him!” He pulled lightly of Levan's clothes and after a while Levan opened his eyes and started to cry.

    Jambo ran away and his gorilla family followed him. Some time later, zookeepers saved Levan. He had broken several bones in the fall, and had seriously hurt his head, but he was alive. A man had filmed everything and millions of people around the world watched the video on the news.

    Jambo! People had always thought that gorillas were dangerous animals, but the video changed their minds. Soon letters, cards and even boxes of bananas arrived for him at the zoo. Jambo died in 1992, but people built a statue (雕像，塑像) at the zoo to remind the world of this wonderful animal.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Mrs. Smith doesn't like to exercise outside, but she likes playing sports indoors.(在室内)

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Paul likes doing sports. He usually plays soccer in the park with his friends. His favorite sport is soccer.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Zhao Xiaolin wants to buy a camera. Then she can take photos and show them to her classmates.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Jim is very interested in pandas but he knows little about them. He wants to borrow some books on pandas.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Sally, an 18-year-old girl, wants to be thin. She likes to exercise outside.

    Dawa Dorji has many jobs: singer, barkeeper and English tour guide, but he is most famous as the lead singer of the first folk(民间的) pop band in Tibet(西藏).

    In 2003, Dawa Dorji met two fans of Tibetan music.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, and later another two joined the band.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, so they had to practise on weekdays in a small village after work. Dawa Dorji and his band members believed that they needed to communicate with their audience(听众) in order to write good songs. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    At the beginning, most audience were foreigners, but after a couple of months, many local people came to enjoy their music. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    “Whenever there is a festival, we Tibetans sing and dance, I sang songs with the old people, and I learned more about how to sing,” said Dawa Dorji.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, and many of them are from traditional ones.

    Dawa Dorji believes that their efforts(努力) are meaningful for introducing Tibetan folk music to the whole nation, and even the whole world.

    Last year, Tom left school. He went to Beijing to look for(寻找) a job. He went from one company(公司) to another. But he didn't get one. He had only a little money. So he had to go back to his home. Then he came to the train station.

    When he got to the train station at night, there were many people buying tickets at the station He bought the last ticket. He felt happy.

    At that time, a young woman with a baby walked to him. She asked him to sell her the ticket. Tom gave her the ticket, because he thought they needed it more. After the train left, he didn't know where to go. Just then, an old man came to him and said, "Young man, I saw what you did to the woman. I have a big company. I need a good young man like you. Would you like to work for me?" Tom was so excited that he couldn't say a word.

    A few days ago, I ran into a stranger as he passed by. I said sorry to him and he said, "Excuse me, too, I wasn't even watching for you." We were very polite this stranger and I. Then we went on our way after saying goodbye.

    Later in the kitchen at home, as I cooked our meal, my daughter Betty walked up to me, very quietly. When I turned around. I nearly knocked her down. "Get out of the way!" I shouted angrily. She ran away, crying.

    That night, when I lay in bed, my husband said to me, "You were so rude to Betty. Go and look around on the kitchen floor, and you'll find some flowers there. Betty brought those for you. She picked them herself - pink, yellow, and your favourite blue."

    When I heard this, I thought deeply: While meeting with a stranger, I was calm and polite; but with my daughter, I was not patient. I felt sad and tears began to fall.

    I quietly went to Betty's bed, "Wake up, my dear," I said, "Are these the flowers you picked for me?" She smiled, "I found them by the tree. I knew you'd like them, especially the blue." I said, "I am so sorry that I treated（对待）you that way today." And she whispered（悄声说）, "Mommy, that's okay - I still love you anyway." I kissed her and said, "I love you too and I do love the flowers."

    That day Betty gave me a lesson on how to get along with each other in the family. I spent much time on work before and didn't realize how important family life was. I decided to change myself in the future.