Louis Braille was born in France in 1809. Sadly when he was a little boy, he had an accident. By the time he was four years old, he was completely blind. However, at the age of ten, Louis was lucky enough to go to one of the first schools for blind children in Paris. At this particular school they had special books. They were written in ordinary French but the letters raised up off the page, so that the students could feel the shape of the words and read them. But there were two problems with this system. First, the letters were huge and difficult to read. Second, the books were very expensive so the school library only had fourteen altogether.
In 1821, when Louis was twelve years old, a soldier came to his school. This man had invented a system for soldiers to send and receive messages in the dark. Although this idea had not worked very well, Louis became very excited and began experiments with it. By the time he was fifteen, he had invented a perfect system which used only six dots. And by 1827 the first book using his system was published.
It still took a long time before people realized what a wonderful invention Braille’s system was. In fact, Louis died in 1852 and did not live to see the success of his system, which has been adapted to almost every language in the world. Thanks to him, blind or weak-sighted people are able to read or write as well as any sighted person.
【小题1】What did books for the blind look like when Louis was a boy?
| A．No books designed for the blind. |
| B．Books with raised dots on each page. |
| C．Books with letters raised up off each page. |
| D．The same books as those for the able-bodied. |
【小题2】What led Louis to invent a reading system for the blind?
| A．The letters were huge and difficult to read. |
| B．Books designed for the blind were too costly. |
| C．The number of books for the blind was very small. |
| D．A messaging system for soldiers to use in the dark. |
【小题3】When did Louis perfect the reading system?
| A．In 1821 | B．In 1824 | C．In 1827 | D．In 1852 |
【小题4】According to the last paragraph, what significance does Louis Braille’s reading system have?
| A．It helps make the blind independent to learn. |
| B．It is easy and convenient for the blind to live. |
| C．It has been adapted to every language in the world. |
| D．It contributes to producing more books for the blind. |
