Global Breaking News - Monday, May 6, 2024

 You have decided to give several hours of your time each month to improve the community where you live. What is one thing you will do to improve your community? Why? Use specific reasons and details to explain your choice.

Volunteering a few hours each week to some community activity is an important way of investing in the future of our society. I chose to spend my time working with elementary school children helping them to learn to read. Developing good reading skills will help these students keep up with their classmates, open new worlds to them, and help them succeed in life.
* volunteer = 자원봉사자 / invest = 투자하다 / elementary school  = 초등학교 / reading skill = 독해능력 / keep up with = ~에게 뒤쳐지지 않다, 따라잡다 / succeed = 성공하다

Students who are not good readers cannot keep up with their studies. They will not understand the lessons; they will come to school unprepared; they will not be able to perform. By learning to read, students will be on equal footing with their classmates. They will be active participants in class.
* lesson = 교훈 / unprepared = 준비가 안 된 / equal footing = 대등한 지위, 동등한 관계 / participant = 참가자

Books on different lifestyles, occupations, cultures, or governments will open new doors to students. Students who can't read will only know what they see around them. Students who can read will be able to travel to new worlds and experience new ideas without ever leaving their classrooms.
* lifestyle = 생활방식, 양식 / occupation = 직업 / government = 정부

Today, a person who can't read is severely handicapped. A non-reader will have to work at the most menial jobs. Readers, especially good readers, have the whole universe open to them. They will have the possibility to learn any job that interests them.
* severely = 심하게 / handicapped = 장애가 있는 / non-reader = 글을 읽지 못하는 사람, 독서 장애인 / menial job = 지루한, 하찮은, 천한 일 / possibility = 가능성, 기회 / interest = 흥미, 관심을 끌다

By volunteering to help an elementary school child learn to read, I am helping him or her not only today, but for the rest of his or her life. I am helping them keep pace with their peers and explore the world and themselves through books.
* keep pace with = 보조를 맞추다, 따라가다 / peer = 또래, 동료 / explore the world = 세계를 탐험하다