Feng Boyao and MengShuqi found that their city library didn't have enough Braille books for blindpeople and many of the Braille books were out of date.
So, they teamed up to help the blind by fixing the problem. Feng and Meng both studied at No.37 MiddleSchool in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. They invented a new kind of Braille reader. Their work won first prize ina national competition aiming to nurture creative thinking by encouraging youths to solve social problems. The invention was also granted(授予)a national patent(专利). When connected to a computer, their Braillereader can turn words into raised dots(凸起的点). Blind people can read by touching the dots, which aremagnets(磁铁). This is the first Braille reader that uses magnets.
"We found that today's Braille readers are very difficult and expensive," Feng said. "So, we decided todevelop a user-friendly product, especially for young blind children from grades1 to 3. Moreover, it only costsabout 2000 yuan."
After making their first device, Feng and Meng visited a school for the blind to get advice and improvedit based on the students' needs, like changing the size of the screen and the amount of space between the dots. "We hope the invention will be popularized(普及)in the future to help those blind people who can't affordthe Braille reader now," Meng told Taiyuan News.
① Feng and Meng were interviewed by Taiyuan News.
② Many of the Braille books in the city library were out of date.
③ Feng and Meng visited a school for the blind to learn about the students' needs.
④ They teamed up to help the blind by fixing the problem.