牛仔褲

There is no doubt that people all over the world like wearing jeans， especially young people， because they are comfortable， casual 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.

Speaking of jeans， it is natural to think that American Gold Rush in 1849， when the first immigrants 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 durable clothes， then a solid， durable jeans came into being.

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.

In the 1930s， many movies in the USA showed cowboys in Western America wearing jeans. Cowboys had a reputation 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.

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 constantly changing. In the 1990s， a new material was added to the cotton to make it stretch 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.

In 1964， a writer for the magazine American Fabrics said， “Denim has become a symbol of the young， active， informal， American way of life.” In many respects， 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.

毋庸置疑，世界各地的人都喜歡穿牛仔褲，尤其是年輕人，因為它們舒適、休閑，被認為很“酷”。現如今，牛仔褲變得越來越流行。很多青少年在休息日都喜歡穿上一條牛仔褲。雖然每年的時尚都在變，但是牛仔褲從沒有完全過時，它們已經成為當今年輕人生活的一部分。

說起牛仔褲，人們自然會想起1849年美國那次淘金潮，當時第一批踏上美國大陸的移民，他們可以說是一窮二白，他們不得不拼命地工作。特別是在1849年礦工們一窩蜂涌進加利福尼亞州，形成了當時著名的淘金潮。由于布料非常容易破損，人們迫切希望有一種耐穿的衣服，然后結實、耐用的牛仔褲就應運而生。

在19世紀70年代，舊金山有位店主發明了牛仔褲，是賣給那些干重活的工人穿的。工人們喜歡這種褲子，因為它們既便宜又結實，而且穿起來很舒服，特別是在洗過幾遍之后。這家店鋪成功了，大約60年后，人們才把牛仔褲既當作工作服又當時尚裝來穿。

20世紀30年代，美國許多電影都放映穿著牛仔褲的美國西部牛仔，他們以生活狂放、無拘無束著稱，對許多美國年輕人而言這種生活正是他們夢寐以求的，因此他們就穿著打扮得像他們的影視英雄一樣。第二次世界大戰中，有些人當了兵，被派到別的國家去打仗。他們帶去了他們最喜愛的牛仔褲，在閑暇時把它穿起來。就這樣，美國牛仔褲在世界上流行起來了。

此后，牛仔褲在樣式上經歷了種種變化。有些年時興寬褲腿，過些年緊腿褲又比較受歡迎，接著緊身的或寬松的，彩色的、深藍的或淺藍的，有洞的或繪花的——牛仔褲在不斷地變化。20世紀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。有些公司開始生產一些新式牛仔褲，它們看起來好像已經穿過好些年、洗過很多次。

1964年，《美國紡織業》雜志的一位作家說：“牛仔褲已經成為年輕的、活躍的和休閑的美國生活方式的一種象征。”在以后40多年里，這種說法在許多方面還是如此。如今，全世界活躍且不拘小節的年輕人都穿牛仔褲。有些老年人想變得年輕，他們也喜愛牛仔褲。例如，在英國最近有一項調查發現男人中有60%，女人中有46%的人經常穿牛仔褲。但是牛仔褲在年輕人中才是最流行的。在15到19歲這個年齡段里有72%的人把牛仔褲作為第一選擇，而在英國不到半數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，看來很有可能在今后許多年里，牛仔褲還將繼續成為全球青年文化的一部分。