Why People Wear Clothes

People in other times wore clothes that would probably seem strange today. Still, the reasons that they wore them were much the same as the reasons that people wear clothes today. People throughout history and across different cultures have always worn clothes for similar reasons.

Clothes are worn for protection and also for modesty. Sometimes they are worn merely for decoration, while other times they are worn because they are comfortable.

One of the most important reasons that people wear clothes is for protection. This means that clothes are worn to keep the person from harm and injury. Clothes can offer many kinds of protection. In some places, people have protection from the weather. Sometimes people believe that wearing an article of clothing or a special piece of jewelry will ward off an evil spirit or help keep them healthy. These clothes of psychological protection come from a person’s state of mind or emotions.

Clothes also protect people from heat. In some desert areas people wear loose robes. These robes keep the dry, hot air away from the body, which prevents the loss of body moisture. Raincoats and boots and other foul-weather clothes protect people from unusually bad weather. Hard hats protect workers who must work around construction. Bulletproof vests are worn by police to protect them while they work. The space suits that the astronauts wear in outer space are designed to guard them from space hazards, such as weightlessness and cold. Going for a walk in the woods, people dress to protect themselves from insects, thorns and sore feet.

Clothes can give the wearer psychological protection. This happens when people believe or think that items of clothing have special or magical properties.

In some cultures, special necklaces or other pieces of jewelry or clothes are worn for this kind of protection. People think they ward off evil, heal, or bring good luck to their wearers.

Clothes worn for modesty often carry the idea that an unclothed body is shameful.

What is considered modest changes with the time and place? A view of woman’s ankle in the nineteenth century was considered shocking, yet women often wore evening dresses that were cut quite low.

People of all cultures take an interest in adornment. When people adorn themselves they use things to decorate or beautify their bodies. They wear clothes to make themselves look better to others. People wear clothes to express their individuality and their creative sense.

Adornment can also be used to tell many things about its wearer. It can show wealth, rank, status, occupation, family ties and power. Nowadays there have been radical changes in dress. Many of these changes have been done to make clothes more comfortable and more practical. Comfort has become one of the major reasons that people dress the way they do today.

III Answer the questions:

1. Did ancient people wear clothes for similar reasons as modern ones?

2. What do people wear clothes for?

3. How do clothes protect people from the weather?

4. Do clothes protect only just from cold?

5. Why do people wear special professional clothes?

6. Do clothes have any magical properties?

7. Why do we decorate our clothes?

8. What can clothes say about the wearer?

9. What changes happened in clothing?

IV Complete the sentences with the words from the text:

1. The reasons for wearing clothes are…..

2. Clothes are worn for…….

3. People believe that…..

4. …..help protect from…….

5. There are some kinds of…..clothes such as space suits, bullet-proof vests.

6. In some cultures people wear…….

V Find the English equivalents to the words:

Прикраса, дивний, захист, травма, спека, відкритий космос, неодягнений, соромливий, відрізати

VI Make up sentences with the terms:

Reason, protection, to prevent, to dress, special properties, to carry the idea, shocking, adornment, comfortable

VII Give definitions to the words:

Protection, decoration, jewelry, property, individuality, creative

VIII Translate the sentences into English:

1. Люди почали носити одяг для практичних цілей.

2. Одяг захищає оголене тіло від холоду та спеки.

3. Люди вважали, що деякі види одягу та прикрас можуть відганяти злих духів.

4. Існує спеціальний одяг, який може врятувати людині життя.

5. Гарний одяг допомагає виразити індивідуальність, показати творчу натуру людини.

6. Одяг набув багатьох змін: сором’язливий одяг 19 сторіччя став звичайним зараз.

7. Види та стилі одягу відрізняються залежно від культур.

8. Прикраси не тільки додають особливого вигляду, але й мають магічні властивості.

9. Сучасні люди намагаються зробити одяг більш практичним та комфортним.

10. Одяг – це одна з найважливіших та прекрасніших речей, створених людьми.

IX Speak on the topic using the following words and word-combinations:

To wear clothes, for some reasons, protection, weather, professional clothes, decoration, jewelry, to express the nature, to make changes

TEXT B

I Read and remember:

1. ability – здатність

2. to dye – фарбувати

3. to penetrate – проникати

4. tie-dyeing – метод фарбування, коли тканина зв’язана

5. batiking – батікування (метод фарбування)

6. dipped – занурений

7. to soak – промокати, всмоктувати

8. silk-screening – трафарет

9. stenciling – нанесення фарби по трафарету

10. frequently – часто

II Read the text and define the main idea of it:

Поиск по сайту: