The Cherokee Nation
Long before the white man came to America, the land belonged to the
American Indian nations. The nation of the Cherokees(切罗基族人) lived in what is now
the southeastern part of the United States. After the white man
came, the Cherokees copied many of their ways. One Cherokee named Sequoyah saw
how important reading and writing was to the white man. He decided to invent a
way to write down the spoken Cherokee language. He began by making word
pictures. For each word he drew a picture. But that proved impossible — there
were just too many words. Then he took the 85 sounds that made up the language.
Using his own imagination and an English spelling book, Sequoyah invented a sign
for each sound. His alphabet(字母表) proved amazingly easy to learn. Before long,
many Cheroke A. on the American continent. B. in the southeastern part of the US. C. beyond the Mississippi River. D. in the western territory.
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