在一家收容所，作者尽全力帮助一位妇女获取GED文凭，并经常与那里的人交流。通过这项工作，她发现志愿工作非常有意义！
Through my work at a shelter, I have discovered how fulfilling volunteer work can be. This is a shelter for women with severe problems. Almost all of the residents have been either physically or mentally abused. The shelter provides housing for up to twentynine women.
As a volunteer, I spend part of my day pricing and sorting clothes and performing a variety of duties. However, the true challenge of my days is Annie. This woman, probably in her late fifties, has decided that she wants to get her GED (学历证书). I have always had an interest in teaching, so I offer to work with her. Annie and I agree that, because I am not a math person, we would focus on the literature and the arts of the test. She has some serious problems, the medications she takes causes her to have difficulty concentrating. Her inability to focus contributes to my frustrations, but Annie is determined to get her GED and she is so sincerely grateful for my help.
Sometimes it occurs to me that I may not really be the teacher; it seems as though I learn a lot from my “student”. It is hard to watch her struggle through a paragraph，but I can only help her to a certain point. She has problems with reading and comprehending. Her medication also causes her to shake so that her handwriting is poor and she must translate her work for me.
Aside from helping Annie learn, I frequently communicate with the other people at the shelter. Most of the women are glad to have someone to talk to and I like talking to them, too. I have become more aware of the comfortable life I lead, and I am learning to look at things from another person's eyes, understanding how to appreciate precious things I take for granted.
