志愿者Volunteers

New words

• 志愿者zhìyuànzhě — volunteer
• 文明wénmíng — civilized; civilization
• 公共gōnggòng — public
• 共同gòngtóng — common, together
• 人民rénmín — the people
• 老百姓lǎobǎixìng — ordinary people

The story

马爷爷：大家注意！成都要成为全国的文明城市！Attention, everyone! Chengdu wants to become one of the country's model civilized cities!

马爷爷：下周五，检查的人要来我们小区。我们要成立一个志愿者队！Next Friday the inspectors are coming to our estate. We're setting up a volunteer team!

乐乐：志愿者是做什么的？What do volunteers do?

马爷爷：志愿者不要钱，为人民服务！Volunteers don't get paid. They serve the people!

乐乐：人民是谁？Who are 'the people'?

马克：“人民”就是“老百姓”。报纸上说“人民”，家里说“老百姓”。'The people' are just 'ordinary folk'. Newspapers say 'the people'; at home we say 'ordinary folk'.

马爷爷：对！我们都是老百姓。小区是我们共同的家！Right! We're all ordinary folk. The estate is the home we all share!

大卫：我也要当志愿者！我个子高，什么都能做！I want to volunteer too! I'm tall, I can do anything!

Opening the lesson…