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The story of Braille Usually, when we talk about reading, we think of using our eyes to see letters written in ink on paper. However, this is not always true. For example, blind people cannot see, but they can still read books. The man who introduced blind people to reading was Louis Braille (1809–1852). Braille lost his eyesight at the age of three as a result of an injury. When he was ten, he went to a school for the blind in Paris. In those days, books for blind people used paper pressed against metal wire to form letters. Since the metal wire was heavy, each book weighed as much as 100 pounds. The whole system was not convenient for use. Indeed, the school library only had fourteen such books in it. In 1821, a soldier visited the school and showed the students a system for passing messages at night during times of battle. His system used paper with small, raised dots that could be felt with the fingers. Each letter of the alphabet was represented by a different pattern which consisted of twelve dots. The soldiers would drag their fingers over the raised dots to read the message. While the students found the soldier’s idea interesting, the system was too difficult to be of practical use. However, young Louis Braille took the idea and worked on it. At the age of fifteen, he created a system with patterns of six raised dots representing each letter. ‘Braille’, the system for reading used today by blind people around the world, was thus born. The blind can easily recognize Braille with the fingers. They can also easily write in Braille with a special typewriter. Today, it is the most common system used by blind people for reading and writing, and nearly every language, including Chinese, has its own version of Braille for its people to use. 布莱叶盲文的故事 通常，当我们谈到阅读时，我们会想到用眼睛去看纸上墨水写成的字母。然而，情况并不一定总是这样。比如，盲人无法看到东西，但他们仍能阅读书籍。 将盲人领入阅读世界的人是路易斯o布莱叶(1809-1852)。布莱叶在三岁时因为受伤而失明。十岁时，他进入巴黎一所盲人学校就读。那时候，供盲人阅读的书籍是用纸压在金属丝上来形成字母。因为金属丝很重，所以每本书都会重达100磅，整个系统使用起来非常不方便。事实上，学校图书馆也只有14本这样的书。 1821年，一位士兵参观学校时向学生们展示了一种战时夜间传递信息的方法。他的方法是使用带小凸点的纸张，这些小凸点可以用手指感觉出来。字母表里的每一个字母都由12个点组成的不同形状来表示。因此士兵们可以用手指触摸凸点来阅读信息。 虽然学生们都觉得士兵的想法非常有趣，但这一方法太过复杂，并不实用。然而年轻的布莱叶采纳了这个想法并着手完善它。15岁时，他创造出了可以由6个凸点表示字母的体系。“布莱叶盲人点字法”，这一当今被全世界盲人广泛使用的阅读体系就此诞生了。 盲人可以轻松的用手指辨别布莱叶盲文。他们也可以使用特殊的打字机，方便地用布莱叶盲文书写。今天，布莱叶盲文是世界上最为普及的盲人阅读及书写体系，几乎每种语言，包括汉语，都有着自己的布莱叶盲文版本供盲人使用。 |
