When traveling abroad, it is wise to carry your money in traveler's checks because checks are protected against loss or theft. If your checks are lost or stolen, the issuing authority will refund(赔偿) your money.
Not only are they safe, they are also convenient. They are available in different currencies and they can be cashed at most banks throughout the world. Most shops, hotels and restaurants also accept them.
Traveler's checks are very easy to use. When you collect them, you sign each check once. The cashier enters the amount in your passport. When you cash, you sign each check again. The cashier will usually ask to see your passport again too.
To get traveler's checks you usually go to your bank. They can be paid in cash or in other ways. Large amounts, however, must be ordered in advance.
For the safety and convenience of traveler's checks, you are charged two commissions(佣金，酬劳): an insurance commission when you buy them and an encashment commission when you cash them.
It is suitable to make a note of the serial numbers of your checks. Keep this separate from your traveler's checks.（词数191）

Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer（扫盲志愿者）. The training I received, though excellent, did not tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.
My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn’t know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule. She told me it would not help because she could not read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket, because she couldn’t always remember what she needed. Since she did not know words, she could not write out a shopping list. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.
As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence, which encouraged her to continue in her studies. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face, and she began to see how her own hard work in learning to read paid off. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.
As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.