Imagine a man who cannot read or write. Now imagine that same man creating a brand new alphabet(字母表). It sounds impossible,doesn't it? Yet that is exactly what one man did -a man named Sequoyah.
Born around 1770 in America, Sequoyah was a Cherokee(切罗基人). Like other Native Americans(美国土著) of that time，he could neither read nor write. He noticed, though, how white people wrote to one another on pieces of paper. They often used these"talking leaves", as some Native Americans called them to communicate.
Back then, the Cherokee had no way to write down words in their own language. Sequoyah believed it was essential for the Cherokee to have a system of writing. So, in 1809 ,he set out to create an alphabet that the Cherokee could use to do just that.
Sequoyah started by drawing pictures, with each one symbolizing a different word or idea. He soon realized that writing sentences using pictures would be much too difficult. Sequoyah decided to try a different way. He began to develop symbols to stand for the sounds, or syllables (音节), that made up words. Twelve years later, he completed a system of writing with 86 different symbols. Each one stood for a different syllable in the Cherokee language. The symbols could easily be put together to form words. Soon thousands of Cherokee were able to read and write in their own language.
Sequoyah's work did not end there, however. He helped to set up a print shop and began publishing(出版) a bilingual newspaper in both Cherokee and English. In later years, Sequoyah became a political leader(政治领袖) among the Cherokee.
Sequoyah died in 1843, but many Cherokee of today still use the alphabet he invented. Thanks to him,the Cherokee now have a written history that will never be forgotten.
