tell sth about the invention of paper.

经典文章 PAPER AND ITS USES
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 can’t answer that question quickly.In 1900 the world’s use of paper was about one kilogram for each person in a year.Now some countries use as much as 50 kilograms of paper for each person in a year.The volume countries like the United States,England and Sweden certainly 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 papyrus; 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 some of the most important facts of European history from records that were kept on parchment.
The Chinese first made paper about 2,000years ago.China still has pieces of paper which were made as long ago as that.But Chinese paper was not made from the wood of trees.It was made from the hairlike parts of certain plants.
Paper was not made in southern Europe until about the year 1100.Scandinavia-which now makes a great deal of the world’s paper—did not begin to make it until 1500.It was a German named Schaeffer who fund out that one could make the best paper from trees.After that ,the forest countries of Canada ,Sweden,Norway,Finland,and the United States became the most important in paper –making .Today in Finland,which makes the best paper in the world.The paper industry is the biggest in the land .New paper –making machines are very big,and they make paper very fast.The biggest machines can make a piece of paper 30 meters long and six meters wide in one minute.
When we think of paper,we think of newspapers ,books,letters,envelopes,and writing paper.But there are many other uses.Only half of the paper that is made is used for books and newspapers,etc.
Paper is very good for keeping you warm.Houses are often insulated with paper.You have perhaps seen homeless men asleep on a large number of newspapers.They are insulating themselves from the cold.In Finland,where in winter it is sometimes 40 degree below zero.The farmers wear paper boots in the snow.Nothing could be warmer.