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ArethereanydifferencesbetweenEnglishwordsandChinesecharacters?TheChineselanguagediffersfromWesternlanguagesinthat,insteadofanalphabet,itusescharacterswhichstandsforideas,objectsordeeds.Howdidthecharactersdevelop?Chinesewritingbeganthousandsofyearsogo.Accordingtoanancientstory,amannamedCangJieinventedChinesewriting.Onewinterdaywhilehewashunting,hesawthetracksofanimalsinthesnowandobservedthattheappearanceofeachonewasdifferent.Thenhehadtheideathathecouldusedifferentshapestopresentdifferentobjects.ThefirstChinesecharactersweredrawingsofphisicalobjects.Somecharactershavebeensimplifiedandothershavebeenmademoredifficultovertime.Asawhole,thecharactershavedevelopedfromdrawingsintostandardforms.Wereallcharactersdevelopedfromdrawingsofobjects?Sometimestoexpressideas,somecharactersweremadebycombiningtwoormorecharacterstogether.Othercharactersweredevelopedfordirectionsandnumbers.ComparedwithEnglishwords,doChinesecharactershaveanyshortcomings?DiscussionTheydonotshowhowtheyshouldbepronounced.Therefore,amethodwasdevelopedtohaveonepartofacharacterindicatethemeaningandtheothersuggesttheprononciation.ThemanwhointroducedblingpeopletoreadingwasLouisBraille(1809-1852).Braillelosthiseyesightattheageofthreeasaresultofaninjury.Whenhewasten,hewenttoaschoolfortheblindinParis.WhatinspiredBrailletocreatethespecialsystemfortheblind?Attheageoffifteen,Braillecreatedasystemwithpatternsofsixraiseddotsrepresentingeachletter.Today,itisthemostcommonsystemusedbyblindpeopleforreadingandwriting.Nearlyeverylanguage,includingChinese,hasitsownversionofBrailleforitspeopletouse.BeforetheboycreatedBraille,werethereanybooksfortheblindtoread?Whatwerethebookslike?Thebooksusedpaperpressedagainstmetalwiretoformletters.Whatweretheshortcomingsofthebooks?Theywereheavy,thusnotconvenientforuse.Anotherspecialsystemofsendingmessagewasmentionedinthetext.WhoshowedthewaytoBrailleandhisschoolmates?Itusedpaperwithsmall,raiseddotsthatcouldbefeltwiththefingers.Eachletterofthealphabetwasrepresentedbyadifferentpatternwhichconsistedoftwelvedots.Thesystemwastoodifficulttobeofpracticaluse.