这篇是作文的补充资料，可以帮助我们应对今年的话题。

I worked as a volunteer this summer, helping children from an underdeveloped area located in Guizhou province. My job was to show them around the city during their visit to Shanghai.

Being an urban dweller, I could never have imagined what life was like for these children back home. They lived in a place that was tucked away deep in the mountains, which made it extremely difficult for them to keep abreast with what was happening in the outside world. My friends showed me some photos they took on their recent trip to the mountainous area. Those photos shocked me. The children lived in small huts made with bamboo poles; they had nothing to eat except tomatoes, sweet corn, and wheat; they were forced by their families to climb steep hills to collect herbs for sale.

My colleagues and I went to the railway station to pick up these children. Ranging from ten to thirteen years old, these children looked as if they had been on a rigorous diet. Yet I knew this could not have been a voluntary choice. They goggled at everything as if they wanted to take a mental picture of all that they saw in this big city. Although they knew some of my colleagues who had been to their hometown, they were very shy and only spoke when spoken to.

We took them to Pizza Hut (no pun intended). To my surprise, none of them liked this kind of western delicacy. And many of them could not stand the smell of cheese. That evening, I decided to prepare something that would remind them of their hometown. So I invited them to my home and made spicy dishes that I thought would cater to their tastes. I must confess that I was far from a good cook, but there was not any food left on the plates at the end of that meal. Joy, oh joy.

The next day, we went to the Shanghai Aquarium. After last evening’s dinner, the children seemed to have opened up a lot. They were amazed at such a dizzying array of fishes. Not only were they running around and telling each other what they had just seen, but they were constantly throwing tough questions at us such as how thick the glass had to be to separate us from the sea world. We did not know all the answers to their questions, but we were happy that we created opportunities that triggered questions in their heads.

This volunteer experience opened my eyes to a world that I had never peeked into. Prior to this experience, I had thought that only rich people had the luxury to help those in need. I was wrong. Help can take many forms. Although I did not have a million yuan to give to these children, I managed to help them in my own way. These children were not the only people who took something away from this experience. They helped me see the beauty of helping others.