A Man of Vision

A Man of Vision, written by William D. Hicks. Illustrated by Stephen Marchese.

《有远见的人》，作者：威廉·D·希克斯 插画：斯蒂芬·马尔凯塞

The Accident In 1809, Louis Braille was born in a small town in the country of France. One day, at the age of three, Louis hurt himself. While playing in his father's shoe workshop, he tried to make his own pair of shoes.

意外 1809年，路易·布莱叶出生在法国一个小小的城镇里。 三岁那年的一天，路易不小心受了伤。 当时他正在爸爸的制鞋工坊里玩，想要给自己做一双鞋子。

Lewis picked up his father's sharp awl and bent over. The awl went into Lewis's eye. His hurt eye became sick. Before long, the sickness spread to his second eye, and a short time later, Lewis could not see. He was blind.

路易拿起爸爸那把锋利的锥子，弯下了腰 锥子一下扎进了路易的眼睛 他受伤的眼睛发炎了 没过多久，炎症扩散到了他另一只眼睛，很快，路易就看不见了 他失明了

Still, Lewis went to school with children who could see. But after two years, his parents took him out of school. They thought that there was nothing more for him to learn at school. He could not read or write. As with many other parents of blind children back then, Lewis's parents thought he would end up on the street. So they moved Lewis from his small town to the big city. He was 10 years old.

即便如此，路易还是和视力正常的孩子一起上学 可两年后，父母还是让他退了学 他们觉得路易在学校已经学不到更多东西了 他既不会读也不会写 和当时很多盲童的家长一样，路易的父母担心他最后会流落街头 于是他们把路易从小镇送到了大城市 那年他十岁

School for the Blind. Louis's parents sent him to a school for blind boys in the city of Paris, France. It was one of the first schools for blind people in the world. Louis learned many skills at this school. He learned how to weave branches together to make chairs. He learned how to sew leather to make slippers.

盲人学校 路易的父母把他送进了法国巴黎的一所招收盲童男孩的学校 这是全世界最早的盲人学校之一 路易在这所学校里学到了很多技能 他学会了把枝条编在一起做椅子 他还学会了缝制皮革做拖鞋

Lewis also learned how to read. He felt raised letters on a sheet of paper. The paper was pressed against copper wires shaped like letters. This made a raised letter on the paper. Blind people could feel these letters. But the letters were difficult to read. Too many letters felt the same. Many letters had similar shapes. And the wire used to make these letters had to be shaped by people who could see. It seemed there had to be a better way for blind people to read.

路易还学会了阅读。 他触摸纸张上凸起的字母。 纸张被压在做成字母形状的铜线上。 这就会在纸上留下凸起的字母。 盲人可以触摸这些字母。 可是这些字母读起来很费劲。 太多字母摸起来都差不多。 很多字母的形状都很像。 而且做这些字母的铜线必须由视力正常的人来塑形。 看来盲人需要更好的阅读方法。