Cloze Passages: Louis Braille

Louis Braille was born in the nineteenth century. When he was three years old, a tragic¹ accident at his father's workshop left him permanently blind. As a young boy, Louis was hardworking² and intelligent. His teachers suggested that he should be enrolled in the National Institute for³ Blind Youths. At that time, this was the only school for the blind in⁴ France.

At the institute, Louis was eager to learn⁵ to read and write. To his great disappointment, the few books he found⁶ at the institute used raised letters. This method of reading was difficult for the blind, who had to feel slowly each⁷ letter. By the time they reached⁸ the end of a sentence, they had forgotten what the beginning⁹ was about!

Louis wanted to develop an easier reading¹⁰ system for the blind. His idea of such a system originated¹¹ from Charles Barbier, a French army officer. Barbier had invented a system called 'Night Writing', which was made¹² up of dots and dashes. Soldiers used this system to communicate¹³ with one another during the night. Louis adapted this system for his own use¹⁴. He got rid of the dashes and produced¹⁵ a simpler system based¹⁶ on dots. For example, 'A' is represented by¹⁷ a single dot. Many blind students found this system much easier¹⁸ to use.

This came to be known¹⁹ as the 'Braille' system. Today, millions of blind people are able to read, thanks²⁰ to the work of a dedicated, young blind man.