(英会話リスニングスクリプト)
In 1812, in a village near Paris, France,
a little boy had a terrible accident.
He hit himself in the eye with one of his
father's sharp tools, and became blind.
His name was Louis Braille, and he was only
4 years old.
He was a clever little boy and he soon learned
to "see" without his eyes.
He touched things, or smelled them or tasted
them.
His family described things to him.
Although he couldn't see people's faces,
he learned to recognize their voices.
In 1819, when Louis was 14, the village
priest told Louis's story to the director of a famous school
for blind boys.
At this school, boys learned math, grammar,
geography, history and music.
And they learned to read!
Louis went to this school in Paris in 1819.
He loved his classes and he received high
grades.
He learned to play the piano and to knit
hats and sweaters.
He also learned to read with his fingers.
The raised print letters in the books at
the blind school stood up from the surface of the paper.
Louis could feel them with his fingers.
He was able to recognize some of them easily,
but some of them were more difficult.
The letters had to be very large, and sometimes
there were only a few letters on a page.
The books were huge and heavy and very expensive.
There were only 14 books in the school library.
Louis read the 3 or 4 books for his class
again and again.
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