張超

There is no doubt that people all over the world like wearing jeans， especially young people， because they are comfortable， casual2 and considered to be“cool”. Nowadays jeans have grown more and more popular. When teenagers have a free day， many of them like to wear a pair of denim jeans. Although the styles may change from year to year， jeans never go completely out of fashion. They are part of the lifestyle of many of todays youth.

毋庸置疑，世界各地的人都喜歡穿牛仔褲，尤其是年輕人，因?yàn)樗鼈兪孢m、休閑，被認(rèn)為很“酷”?，F(xiàn)如今，牛仔褲變得越來(lái)越流行。很多青少年在休息日都喜歡穿上一條牛仔褲。雖然每年的時(shí)尚都在變，但是牛仔褲從沒(méi)有完全過(guò)時(shí)，它們已經(jīng)成為當(dāng)今年輕人生活的一部分。

Speaking of jeans， it is natural to think that American Gold Rush in 1849， when the first immigrants3 set foot on American mainland， they could be said to be poor and blank. They had to work hard. Especially in 1849， miners rushed onto the California， forming the famous gold rush at the time. The cloth was very easy to be worn， people were eager to have a durable4 clothes， then a solid5， durable jeans came into being.

說(shuō)起牛仔褲，人們自然會(huì)想起1849年美國(guó)那次淘金潮，當(dāng)時(shí)第一批踏上美國(guó)大陸的移民，他們可以說(shuō)是一窮二白，他們不得不拼命地工作。特別是在1849年礦工們一窩蜂涌進(jìn)加利福尼亞州，形成了當(dāng)時(shí)著名的淘金潮。由于布料非常容易破損，人們迫切希望有一種耐穿的衣服，然后結(jié)實(shí)、耐用的牛仔褲就應(yīng)運(yùn)而生。

In the 1870s， jeans were created by a shopkeeper in San Francisco. His shop sold denim work trousers to men employed in heavy labor. The workers liked them because they were cheap and strong. They were also comfortable， especially after they had been washed a few times. The shop was successful， but it was about 60 years before people started to buy jeans for fashion as well as for work.

在19世紀(jì)70年代，舊金山有位店主發(fā)明了牛仔褲，是賣給那些干重活的工人穿的。工人們喜歡這種褲子，因?yàn)樗鼈兗缺阋擞纸Y(jié)實(shí)，而且穿起來(lái)很舒服，特別是在洗過(guò)幾遍之后。這家店鋪成功了，大約60年后，人們才把牛仔褲既當(dāng)作工作服又當(dāng)時(shí)尚裝來(lái)穿。

In the 1930s， many movies in the USA showed cowboys in Western America wearing jeans. Cowboys had a reputation6 for living wild and free， and many young American men dreamed of such a life， so they dressed to look like their film star heroes. In World War II， these men became soldiers and were sent to fight in other countries. They took their favorite pair of jeans with them to wear in their free time， and this is how American jeans were introduced to the world.

20世紀(jì)30年代，美國(guó)許多電影都放映穿著牛仔褲的美國(guó)西部牛仔，他們以生活狂放、無(wú)拘無(wú)束著稱，對(duì)許多美國(guó)年輕人而言這種生活正是他們夢(mèng)寐以求的，因此他們就穿著打扮得

像他們的影視英雄一樣。第二次世界大戰(zhàn)中，有些人當(dāng)了兵，被派到別的國(guó)家去打仗。他們帶去了他們最喜愛(ài)的牛仔褲，在閑暇時(shí)把它穿起來(lái)。就這樣，美國(guó)牛仔褲在世界上流行起來(lái)了。

After that， jeans have been through many different changes in style. Some years they have wide legs; at other times narrow legs are the fashion. Tight fitting or loose; colored， dark blue or light blue; decorated with holes， or painted flowers—jeans are constantly7 changing. In the 1990s， a new material was added to the cotton to make it stretch8 and give an even tighter fit over the bottom and legs. More recently it became popular to wear jeans that looked very old and companies started to produce new jeans that appeared to have been worn for several years and washed many times.endprint

此后，牛仔褲在樣式上經(jīng)歷了種種變化。有些年時(shí)興寬褲腿，過(guò)些年緊腿褲又比較受歡迎，接著緊身的或?qū)捤傻?，彩色的、深藍(lán)的或淺藍(lán)的，有洞的或繪花的——牛仔褲在不斷地變化。20世紀(jì)90年代，棉花里又加了一種新材料，使其富有彈性，而在臀部和腿部更加緊身。最近又流行穿一種看上去很舊的牛仔褲。有些公司開(kāi)始生產(chǎn)一些新式牛仔褲，它們看起來(lái)好像已經(jīng)穿過(guò)好些年、洗過(guò)很多次。

In 1964， a writer for the magazine American Fabrics9 said， “Denim has become a symbol of the young， active， informal， American way of life.” In many respects10， these words are still true more than forty years later. Nowadays， active and informal young people all over the world wear denim jeans， and they are popular with old people who want to feel young too. In UK， for example， a recent survey found that 6 out of 10 men and 46% of women often wear jeans， but it is with young people that they continue to be most fashionable. Jeans are the first choice for 72% of those in the 15-19 age group， however， less than half of the teenagers in the UK wear other types of casual trousers. Denim jeans are a symbol of the global teenager and it seems likely that they will remain part of international youth culture for many years to come.

1964年，《美國(guó)紡織業(yè)》雜志的一位作家說(shuō)：“牛仔褲已經(jīng)成為年輕的、活躍的和休閑的美國(guó)生活方式的一種象征?！痹谝院?0多年里，這種說(shuō)法在許多方面還是如此。如今，全世界活躍且不拘小節(jié)的年輕人都穿牛仔褲。有些老年人想變得年輕，他們也喜愛(ài)牛仔褲。例如，在英國(guó)最近有一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)男人中有60%，女人中有46%的人經(jīng)常穿牛仔褲。但是牛仔褲在年輕人中才是最流行的。在15到19歲這個(gè)年齡段里有72%的人把牛仔褲作為第一選擇，而在英國(guó)不到半數(shù)的青少年穿其他樣式的休閑褲。牛仔褲是全世界青少年的象征，看來(lái)很有可能在今后許多年里，牛仔褲還將繼續(xù)成為全球青年文化的一部分。endprint