276.WHO INVENTED SHORTHAND?
Can you write as fast as you can speak? Almost nobody can. But very often it is necessary to take down the words as someone speaks them in order to have a record. One way of doing this is writing in shorthand. Shorthand is the art of writing by means of signs that can be made quickly. These signs, which are not the same as words, can be read later by a person who knows the system. Today, the word shorthand is used to describe this method, but it has also been called stenography (which means little or narrow writing), and tachygraphy (which means swift writing), and brachygraphy (which means short writing).
275.WHEN DID THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE BEGIN?
English is the native language of about two hundred million people. Chinese is the native language of about four hundred million people. Yet English is by far the most important language in the world today.
This is because it is spoken in more different parts of the world than any other language, it is the language of commerce; and it is the second language of many countries.
274.WHAT IS THE TAJ MAHAL?
The Taj Mahal is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we could easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale.
Three hundred years ago, there lived in India an emperor called Shah Jahan. His favorite wife was a beautiful and intelligent woman whom he loved greatly and made his counselor and constant companion. Her title was Mumtaz Mahal; its shortened form, Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace.”
