浙江省诸暨市草塔中学高中英语 Unit 2 The United Kingdom Why Scottish men wear skirts 素材 新人教版必修 5在 2009 年春晚上，小沈阳穿着苏格兰裙风靡全国。在苏格兰，男人有时会穿裙子，你知道这是为什么吗？In Europe, men do not usually wear skirts. However, the Scottish national costume for men is a kind of skirt. It is called a kilt (苏格兰呢褶裙). The Scottish like to be different. They are also proud of their country and its history, and they feel that the kilt is part of the history. That’s why the men still wear kilts at old-style dances and on national holidays. They believe they are wearing the same clothes as Scottish men always used to wear. However, kilts are not really so old. Before 1730, Scottish men wore a long shirt and a blanket around their shoulders. These clothes got in the way when the men started to work in factories. So, in 1730 a factory owner changed the blanket into a skirt: the kilt. That’s how the first kilt was made. Then, in the late 1700s Scottish soldiers in the British army began to wear kilt s. In the early 1800s men all round Scotland began to wear kilts. These kilts had colorful stripes (条纹) going up and down and across. In the 1700s and early 1800s, the color of the stripes had no special meaning. Men sometimes owned kilts in several different colors. But later the colors became important to the Scottish families. By about 1850, most families had special colours for their kilts. For example, men from the Campbell family had kilts with green, yellow and blue stripes. Scottish people often believe that the colors of the kilts are part of their family history. In fact, each family just chose the colors they liked best. Most Scottish people still believe that kilts are as old as Scotland and that the colours are as old as the Scottish families. Sometimes feeling s are stronger than facts!Answer the following questions.1. Why did the factory owner change the blanket into a skirt according to the passage?2. When were kilts popular with the men all over Scotland?
