Attila and the trousers

　　Everyone knows that the custom of wearing trousers is the civilization of mankind, but do you happen to kn ow when people began wearing trousers, and who caused t he custom?

　　The custom of wearing trousers began about the time the Italian city of Venice was founded. The cause was A ttila, the barbarian.

　　About the year 450 A. D., Attila, the leader of the Huns, invaded the Roman Empire. These cruel horsemen bu rned cities, and killed or made slaves of many people.

　　To escape Attila, some Italians took boats and sett led on sandbars off the coast. They built a settlement on the water that became the city of Venice.

　　But as the people fled, they noticed the strange cl othes Attila and his men wore. They did not wear the lo ng robes that most wore. The Huns spent long hours on t heir horses, and so as to protect their legs from the c onstant rubbing, they enclosed their legs in skins and furs sewed together. The strange clothes, the original trousers the soldiers wore, seemed very comfortable and convenient. So other people all over Europe began weari ng trousers, too.

　　Notes:

　　1. Attila: 阿拉拉(侵入罗马帝国的匈奴王，公元406-453)

　　2. barbarian: 野蛮人

　　3. Hun: 匈奴人，匈奴族

　　4. sandbar: 沙洲