How Braille was invented | Moments of Vision 9 - Jessica Oreck

譯者: Hui chu Chen 審譯者: Jenny Yang

In a Moment of Vision...

歡迎收看「靈光一現」系列

Early 1800s.

19 世紀初，

It's the middle of the Napoleonic Wars in the middle of Europe,

歐洲中部正在進行拿破侖戰爭。

and it's the middle of the night.

就在一個午夜，

One Captain Charles Barbier of Napoleon's army

一位名叫查理 ‧ 巴比爾的 法國上尉，

is trying to relay a message to one of his troops.

正試圖傳送一條消息給他的部隊。

But sending written communications to the front lines

但是傳送用明文寫下的信函，

can be deadly for the recipient.

對於位在前線的收信者 可能產生致命的危險。

Lighting a candle to read the missive can give away their positions to the enemy.

因為點燃蠟燭閱讀信函 會暴露自己的位置給敵軍。

In a moment of vision,

於是「靈光一現」！

Barbier pokes a series of holes into a sheet of a paper with his blade,

巴比爾用匕首 在紙上戳了一行行小洞，

creating a coded message that can be deciphered by fingertip,

創造了一種可以直接用指尖 觸摸的秘密文字，

even in the pitch black.

即使夜晚伸手不見五指，也可閱讀。

The merits of his so-called night writing are never acknowledged by the military,

可惜這夜寫的發明價值 從未被軍隊所承認。

but in 1821, Barbier approaches the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris

但是在 1821 年，巴比爾接洽了 位於巴黎的皇家青少年盲人學校，

in the hopes that they might find a use

並希望他們能針對這種 創新的溝通方式，

for his innovative, new communication method.

為失明的青少年找出實際用途。

There, a precocious teen by the name of Louis Braille does just that.

在那裡，有一位早熟的青年 路易斯 ‧ 布萊葉做到了。

Louis spends the next several years improving on Barbier's idea,

路易斯花了數年的時間 改善巴比耶爾的發明，

creating an organized alphabet fitting into a six dot standardized cell.

創造出運用六個點表示字母的系統。

The system catches on.

這個系統後來廣為流行。

Today, Braille is the universally accepted system of writing for the blind,

如今，點字已經是一種被廣為接受， 用於盲人寫作的文字系統，

adapted for more than 130 languages.

並且可適用於 130 多種語言。