Reading Aloud 6

Help others sensibly

Voluntary work involves doing work for others for which you are not paid.

Many people in Hong Kong think charity only involves giving money. But you will gain a lot more if you volunteer your services.

First of all, you can learn how to co-operate with others. You can also learn good organization, leadership and communication skills which are always useful and cannot be learned from textbooks. You can extend your social circle and broaden your horizons as you make different friends.

But we should remember how important safety is. Not all voluntary work is suitable for young people as we are not mature enough to tackle the problems.

It is also vital not to sacrifice too much of your time for volunteer work. Studying and relaxation are more important.

If you choose your voluntary work carefully, you will learn a great deal while helping others.

Kico Law Hau Kwan ( 6A )
South China Morning Post ( January 11, 2006 )

Vocabulary

1. charity (n) 慈善
2. organization (n) 組織工作
3. communication skills (n) 溝通技巧
4. social circle (n) 社交圈子
5. broaden your horizons (phr) 擴闊你的眼界
6. tackle (v) 處理
7. vital (adj) 十分重要
8. sacrifice (v) 犧牲
9. relaxation (n) 休閒活動

Useful Sentences

1. involve doing sth 包含
   Every day each of us makes decisions that involve taking a chance.

2. cooperate with 合作
   They cooperated closely with each other in the planning of the project.

3. broaden your horizons 開闊人的眼界
She wanted to travel to broaden her horizons.

4. tackle a problem 處理難題
  Sam tackled the difficult problem, but he couldn't solve it.

5. it is vital that 十分重要
  It is vital that you keep accurate records.

6. sacrifice sth for sb/sth 犧牲
  She sacrificed everything for her children.