Question

翻译一段英语（不要机译）

Paper is one of the most important products ever invented by man. Wide spread 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. Parchment 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.

Answer 1

纸张是人类最重要的发明之一.如果没有这种廉价的书写工具,语言是不可能广泛的流传的.纸张的发明使更多的人受教育成为可能,因为更多的书可以被印刷和出版.纸张和印刷术为我们提供了一个绝佳的交流知识的途径.

你每年会用多少纸张呢?你大概没办法很快的回答这个问题.1900年的时候每个人大概一年只用了1公斤的纸张.现在我们每人每年要用50公斤的纸张.而美国,英国,和瑞士所用的纸张更多.

纸张就像很多我们在用的东西一样是被中国人所发明的.在埃及和西方一直到1400年以后纸张才被广泛的所使用.埃及书写在一种水草上面作为纸张的替代物.而欧洲人则使用了羊皮纸数百年.这些羊皮纸都是用特定的幼兽的皮肤所制成的.我们从羊皮纸上了解到了欧洲历史最重要的一些事件.