When Louis Braille was three years old, he became blind in both eyes as the result of

an accident in his father's harness shop.His father, determined that Louis should not suffer the usual fate of blind persons at that time and become a beggar, kept him in the village school until he was ten and then entered him in the institution des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris.Louis learned to read from the three books engraved in large raised letters in the Institution library.He did exceptionally well both in academic work and at the piano and the organ, and was soon helping to teach the younger children.

In 1819, the same year that Louis entered the Institution, Charles Barbier, an army captain, reported to the Academy of Sciences on a system of raised dots and dashes which enabled soldiers to read messages in the dark.Later, Barbier brought his invention to the Institution.After experimenting with it, young Braille produced a writing system using only dots, from which he gradually devised 63 separate combinations representing the letters in the French alphabet.At the request of an Englishman, he later added the letter “w”, accents and punctuation marks, and mathematical signs.Although government bureaucracy prevented immediate official adoption, his system was used at the Institution as long as the director, Dr.Pignier, was in office.Pignier’s successor insisted on returning to the officially approved former system, but students continued to use Braille's method secretly.Eventually, its superiority was established and it was adopted throughout France.

(1).Louis-Braille first learned to read with the aid of _________________.

A.his father

B.special books at the Institution

C.the village school teacher

D.Captain Barbier's system of dots and dashes

(2).Louis's father kept him at the village school until he was ten because his father ________________.

A.wanted Louis to help him in the harness shop

B.thought it was not worthwhile to have Louis work when he was young

C.did not want Louis to live the same sort of life as that of other blind people

D.wanted Louis to remain with the family as long as possible

(3).Louis Braille did all of the following things EXCEPT________________.

A.teaching young children at the Institution

B.developing a writing system for the blind

C.learning to play musical instruments well

D.encouraging students to use his method secretly

(4).Charles Barbier originally devised his writing system for________________.

A.the Academy of Sciences

B.blind children

C.military personnel

D.the English government

(5).Braille's method was not adopted officially for some time because________________.

A.the students preferred the former method

B.the large library collection would then have been useless

C.Dr.Pignier's successor disliked Braille's method

D.the government was slow to approve it