阅读理解 原文翻译Paper is one of the most important products ever in

阅读理解 原文翻译
Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man. Widespread use of written language would not have been possible without some cheap and practical material to write on. The invention of paper meant that more people could be educated because more books could be printed and distributed. Together with the printing press, paper provided an extremely important way to communicate knowledge.
How much paper do you use every year? Probably you cannot answer that question quickly. In 1900 the world's use of paper was about one kilogram for each person a year. Now some countries use as much as 50 kilograms of paper for each person a year. Countries like the United States, England and Sweden use more paper than other countries.
Paper, like many other things that we use today, was first made in China. In Egypt and the West, paper was not very commonly used before the year 1400. The Egyptians wrote on a kind of material made of a water plant. Europeans used parchment for many hundreds of years. Parch-ment was very strong; it was made from the skin of certain young animals. We have learnt of the most important facts of European history from records that were kept on parchment.

纸是人类发明的最重要的产品的人。书面语言的广泛使用也不会有没有一些便宜而又实用的材料来写是可能的。纸意味着更多的人可以接受教育，因为更多的书可以印发的发明。与印刷机一起，提供了交流知识的重要途径。
我们每年用多少纸呢？也许你无法很快回答这个问题。在1900世界的用纸量大约是每人一公斤。现在一些国家使用多达50公斤的纸，每人一年。像美国这样的国家，英国和瑞典比其他国家使用更多纸。
纸，就像我们今天使用的许多其他事，首先是中国制造。在埃及和西方，纸是不太常用的1400年前。埃及人写字写在一种水性植物做成的材料。欧洲人用羊皮纸用了好几百年。烘干过程是非常强的；它是用某些幼年动物的皮。我们已经学会从羊皮纸上保存的记录欧洲历史的最重要的事情。