Clothing is a language. It tells us about individual people: their personality, their age, their place in society and so on. If we want to know more about society, we can look at traditional clothing.
The continent of Africa has a long history and a rich culture, and this is shown in traditional dress. You often find three colours — red, gold and green in the clothing. The first colour stands for the blood of millions of people who suffered as slaves(奴隶); the second is for the rich resources of the African earth; and the third represents the grasslands of home.
The patterns(图案) on the clothing also have a meaning. A common pattern is in the form of a cross “×”, which stands for “unity”. Another pattern is a rectangular box, which represents “strength”.
Because clothing has a strong social meaning, people are very careful in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious mistake to wear the wrong clothing, or to wear clothes in the wrong way. For instance, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband differently according to the importance of the social event.
Traditional dress also tells us about everyday life. African designs are famous for loose(宽松的) clothing. The climate, with the hot sun and wide temperature ranges(变化), requires that the clothes are comfortable for daily life.
Although many people wear western clothes, particularly in the big cities in Africa, traditional dress is very highly valued(评价). This is because it has deep cultural meanings.
小题1:According to the passage, red ________.
| A．represents the setting sun |
| B．stands for African unity |
| C．is chosen because it is a bright colour |
| D．is a reminder(暗示) of the sad history in Africa |
小题2:Traditional dress should also be practical(实用) because ________.
| A．it has deep cultural meanings |
| B．people wear it in the big cities |
| C．it needs to protect people from the climate |
| D．it needs to keep people dry in the rainy season |
小题3:According to the passage, which sentence is NOT RIGHT?
| A．African dress has deep cultural meanings. |
| B．Africa has a long history and a rich culture. |
| C．The rectangular box in the pattern represents “strength”. |
| D．People in the big cities in Africa prefer to wear western clothes. |
小题4:The passage is mainly about ________ in Africa.
| A．the history of clothes |
| B．modern fashion styles |
| C．the meanings of traditional dress |
| D．the materials used in traditional dress |