Good morning.

早上好。

My name's Lucy Crittenden, and I’m the Director of Operations for an organisation that arranges volunteering in this part of the country.

我的名字是露西·克里腾登，我是国家在本地区负责安排志愿服务组织的运营总监。

I'm hoping I can persuade one or two of you to become volunteers yourselves.

我希望我能说服你们中的一两个人主动成为志愿者。

Let me start by briefly explaining what we mean by volunteering.

首先，让我简单解释一下志愿服务的含义。

Volunteers are teenagers and adults who choose to spend some time, unpaid, helping other people in some way.

志愿者是一些选择以某种方式花一些时间、无偿地帮助其他人的青少年和成年人。

Most volunteers devote two or three hours to this every week, while a few do much more.

大多数志愿者每周投入两到三个小时来做志愿活动，而少数志愿者投入的时间会更多。

The people they help may have physical or behavioural difficulties, for example.

举个例子，他们帮助的人可能有身体上或者行动上的困难。

Volunteers can do all sorts of things, depending on their own abilities and interests.

志愿者可以根据自己的能力和兴趣做许多种事情。

If they're supporting a family that's struggling, for example, they may be able to give them tips on cooking, or recommend how to plan their budget or how to shop sensibly on their income.

如果他们正在帮助一个挣扎在温饱线的家庭，举个例子，他们可以给这个家庭提供烹饪技巧，或建议如何规划他们的预算，或者在他们的收入范围内如何理智地购物。

They might even do some painting or wallpapering, perhaps alongside any members of the family who are able to do it.

志愿者们甚至可能与家庭中能干活的人一起，做一些刷漆或贴墙纸的工作。

Or even do some babysitting so that parents can go out for a while.

或者甚至做一些帮忙看孩子的工作，以便孩子的父母可以出去一段时间。

The benefit from volunteering isn't only for the people being helped.

志愿服务不仅仅对那些需要帮助的人是有好处的。

Volunteers also gain from it: they're using their skills to cope with somebody's mental or physical ill health, and volunteering may be a valuable element of their CV when they're applying for jobs: employers usually look favourably on someone who's given up time to help others.

志愿者也会从中获益：他们正在利用自己的技能，去帮助某些人解决精神上或身体上的问题，而且志愿服务可能是他们申请工作时的简历中的一个重要元素：雇主通常会看好那些牺牲自己的时间来帮助别人的人。

Significantly, most volunteers feel that what they're doing gives them a purpose in their lives.

值得注意的是，大多数志愿者都认为他们正在做的事情为他们的生活带来了目标。

And in my opinion, they're lucky in that respect, as many people don't have that feeling.

在我看来，他们在这方面很幸运，因为很多人都体会不到这种感觉。