54 L6-Clothes Then and Now

Oxford Read and Discover level 6 Clothes Then and Now by Richard Northcott

《牛津阅读与发现》六级《过去与现在的衣服》作者:理查德·诺斯科特

Introduction Let's think about clothes. Jeans, T-shirts, dresses, and sweaters... you can find these clothes in most countries around the world. Look at the photos below. Which clothes are the same as clothes in your country? Which are different? What clothes can you see here? What are your favorite clothes? What are they made of and where were they made? What do you know about clothes in the past? Discover! Now read and discover more about clothes in the past and clothes today!

让我们想想衣服。 牛仔裤、t恤、连衣裙和毛衣…… 你可以在世界上大多数国家找到这些衣服。 请看下面的照片。哪些衣服和你们国家的衣服一样? 哪些是不同的?你在这儿能看到什么衣服? 你最喜欢的衣服是什么? 它们是用什么做的，在哪里做的? 你对过去的服装了解多少? 发现!现在阅读和发现更多关于过去和现在的衣服!

Chapter 1 Why Do We Wear Clothes? We wear clothes because we want to be comfortable. We wear clothes because we want to look good. Do we always wear the same clothes? Of course not! We wear different clothes when we do different things. Clothes For Important Days Are you wearing your best clothes today? Maybe not. We wear good clothes at school, but we wear better clothes at parties or on important days. Weddings are very important days. In this photo of a wedding, the people are wearing beautiful clothes. They are made of an expensive fabric called silk. Wedding clothes are different in different countries, but one thing is the same everywhere— people wear their best clothes on the most important days. Clothes For Every Day In the past, clothes were often big and heavy. The old clothes above don't look very comfortable. Most people couldn't buy clothes made of light fabrics, like silk, because they were too expensive. There were no synthetic fabrics like nylon. Today, our clothes are light and easy to wear. They are made quickly in big factories. Millions of clothes are made every day. Most people have lots of different clothes because they are cheaper now.

第一章我们为什么要穿衣服? 我们穿衣服是因为我们想要舒适。 我们穿衣服是因为我们想看起来漂亮。 我们总是穿同样的衣服吗? 当然不是!当我们做不同的事情时，我们穿不同的衣服。 你今天穿了最好的衣服吗? 也许不是。我们在学校穿好衣服，但我们在聚会或重要的日子穿更好的衣服。 婚礼是非常重要的日子。 在这张婚礼的照片中，人们穿着漂亮的衣服。 它们是由一种叫做丝绸的昂贵织物制成的。 不同国家的婚纱不同，但有一件事是相同的——人们在最重要的日子里穿上最好的衣服。 在过去，衣服通常又大又重。 上面的旧衣服看起来不太舒服。 大多数人不能买丝绸等轻薄面料的衣服，因为它们太贵了。 那时还没有尼龙这样的合成纤维。 今天，我们的衣服很轻，很容易穿。 它们在大工厂里生产得很快。 每天生产数百万件衣服。 大多数人有很多不同的衣服，因为他们现在便宜了。

Staying Cool or Warm We wear clothes because we want to be comfortable in hot or cold weather. In hot weather, tight clothes are uncomfortable. If we wear loose clothes, the air can move around our bodies and help us to stay cool. The men above live in a hot country. They are wearing long, white shirts called dishdashas. White clothes are cool in hot weather. The men's turbans and scarves protect their heads from the sun. In colder countries, people also cover their heads. This is because they don't want to lose heat. In places where the winter is very cold, people wear hats made of wool or fur. Heat from the body stays in the wool or fur and keeps people warm. Looking Good 'That's a great T-shirt! Where did you buy it?'... We're always happy when our friends like our clothes. We like wearing nice clothes because we want to look good. How do we look good? People's ideas about that have sometimes changed. About 400 years ago, people in Europe wore big white collars around their necks. You can see one in this painting of a woman from Holland. To look good today, men wear ties, and women wear scarves or jewelry. The head and neck have always been important in the design of clothes. When we meet people, we usually look at the top half of their body— their face and their eyes. Some people want to look rich and important. They buy expensive clothes made by famous designers. Presidents and politicians usually wear expensive clothes. Discover! In Ancient China, yellow was the emperor's color. Only the emperor could wear yellow clothes.

我们穿衣服是因为我们想在炎热或寒冷的天气里感到舒适。 热天穿紧身衣服不舒服。 如果我们穿宽松的衣服，空气可以在我们的身体周围流动，帮助我们保持凉爽。 上面这些人住在一个炎热的国家。 他们穿着被称为dishdashas的白色长衬衫。 在热天穿白色衣服很凉爽。 男人的头巾和围巾保护他们的头部不受太阳的伤害。 在较冷的国家，人们也会用头巾遮头。 这是因为它们不想失去热量。 在冬天很冷的地方，人们戴羊毛或毛皮做的帽子。 身体的热量留在羊毛或毛皮中，使人保持温暖。 “这是一件很棒的t恤!你在哪儿买的?” 当我们的朋友喜欢我们的衣服时，我们总是很高兴。 我们喜欢穿漂亮的衣服，因为我们想看起来很好。 我们怎么看起来好看?人们对此的看法有时会改变。 大约400年前，欧洲人在脖子上戴着大白领。 你可以在这幅荷兰女人的画中看到。 今天，为了看起来漂亮，男人打领带，女人戴围巾或珠宝。 头部和颈部在服装设计中一直很重要。 当我们与人见面时，我们通常会看他们的上半身——他们的脸和眼睛。 有些人想让自己看起来富有和重要。 他们购买著名设计师制作的昂贵衣服。 总统和政治家通常穿着昂贵的衣服。 发现!在中国古代，黄色是皇帝的颜色。 只有皇帝才能穿黄色的衣服。

Chapter 2 The History of Clothes People started wearing clothes about 100,000 years ago. Their clothes were made of animal skins. People also used to weave grass together to make rough fabric. Clothes were probably the same for men and women. Making Fabrics About 8,000 years ago, people learned to weave threads together to make pieces of fabric. They used threads of wool, cotton, or linen. They sewed the pieces of fabric together to make simple tunics. These early clothes were like our T-shirts today, but they were longer. Later, people used looms for weaving. This linen tunic from ancient Egypt is now in a museum. It's about 1,500 years old. We don't have many clothes as old as this tunic. Fabric doesn't usually last long, so people throw old clothes away. If we want to know about clothes in the past, we can look at old paintings. The spinning wheel was invented about 2,500 years ago in India. With spinning wheels, people could make thread more quickly, so making fabric was easier. Fabrics became more comfortable. If you were rich, you could buy lots of different clothes. This picture was painted in 1434. It's from Belgium in Europe and it shows a rich man and woman. The man is wearing a long tunic. At this time, men in Europe and in Asia wore tunics. The woman is holding the front of her dress. There's beautiful decoration on her dress, but its shape is simple. It's like a tunic, but it's longer than the man's tunic. Discover! People carried their money in small purses tied around their waists. They cut slits in their tunics to reach their purses. Later, these slits became pockets.

大约10万年前，人们开始穿衣服。 他们的衣服是兽皮做的。 人们还习惯把草编织在一起，制成粗糙的织物。 男人和女人的衣服可能是一样的。 大约8000年前，人们学会了把线编织在一起来制作织物。 他们使用羊毛线、棉线或亚麻布。 他们把一块块布料缝在一起，做成简单的束腰外衣。 这些早期的衣服就像我们今天的t恤，但它们更长。 后来，人们用织布机织布。 这件古埃及的亚麻束腰外衣现藏于博物馆。 它大约有1500年的历史。 我们没有很多像这件外衣那么旧的衣服。 织物通常不耐穿，所以人们把旧衣服扔掉。 如果我们想了解过去的衣服，我们可以看看老画。 纺车是大约2500年前在印度发明的。 有了纺车，人们可以更快地织线，所以制作织物更容易。 面料变得更加舒适。 如果你很有钱，你可以买很多不同的衣服。 这幅画画于1434年。 它来自欧洲的比利时，画的是一对富有的男人和女人。 那个人穿着一件长束腰外衣。 这个时候，欧洲和亚洲的男人都穿束腰外衣。 这个女人正拿着她衣服的前襟。 她的衣服上有漂亮的装饰，但形状很简单。 它像束腰外衣，但比男人的束腰外衣长。 发现!人们把钱装在小钱包里，系在腰间。 他们在上衣上剪开一条缝以够到钱包。 后来，这些缝隙变成了口袋。