本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛What does plowing a field have to do with the way we write and the way we read?

Nothing. But at one time it had a lot to do with the way the Greek people wrote and the way they read.

At first, the Greeks wrote from right to left, which is just the opposite of the way we write. Then they thought it wold make more sense if they wrote every other line in the opposite direction.

Take the sentence:
Come over to my house tomorrow
when school is over and we’ll play
a game of baseball.

The Greeks would have written it like this:
Worromot esuoh ym ot revo emoC
When school is over and we’ll play
.llabesab fo emag a

This may seem like a silly way to write, but the Greeks had a good reason for doing it this way. When they plowed their fields, they would go first in one direction and then back in the other direction. So, why shouldn’t they write this way, too?

In time, people learned that it was easier to write and to read if the letters went from left to right in every line. And that’s the way we do it now.

I like reading this kind of stories in the children’s book. It seems my IQ is not high.:) But anyway it is good for English study. Hope you enjoy!更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net