行走在木鞋之上

Wooden shoes are called clogs10 in the Netherlands. A clog is footwear made in part or entirely of wood. They are traditional in the Netherlands. Every Dutchman knows them， but just a few still wear them.

In Europe， clogs can be found in other countries too. But the Netherlands landscape is very flat， so its the easiest to walk in the Netherlands with clogs. Clogs are safe， waterproof11， and very cheap. Clogs keep peoples feet dry and they are easy to put on or take off. City people rarely wear them， but farmers and gardeners love them. So， clogs are also called“workers shoes”. People with different jobs wear different styles of clogs.

Clogs are more comfortable in the field， less on the street. Its good to wear thick socks when wearing clogs. For people who never wore clogs before， its better to practice first， little by little.

One interesting thing about clogs is that they break easily. “Now my clog is breaking” is actually a Dutch saying. It means “something unexpected happens”. Thats right， no one wants their shoes to break. Clogs can break anywhere， whenever. And usually people wont get mad when they break. Why？ Because clogs are made of wood， when they break， they wont hurt the feet. And Dutch farmers can use iron staples12 to fix them easily.

In the Netherlands today， clogs are more of a culture， than shoes. When a young Dutch man proposes to his fiancée（未婚妻）， he usually gives her a pair of nice clogs to show his love.

Nowadays， you can find clogs in a lot of tourist shops in the Netherlands. But most of them are not for wearing. They are pretty though. If you want to see real clogs worn by real people， go to the countryside in the Netherlands.

在荷蘭，用木頭制作的鞋子被稱作“木屐”（木鞋）。木鞋是部分或者全部由木頭做成的鞋子。木鞋是荷蘭的傳統鞋子。每個荷蘭人都知道它們，但現在很少有人穿木鞋。

在歐洲其他國家，你也可以找到木鞋。由于荷蘭地勢平坦，所以人們穿木鞋走路很方便。木鞋安全、防水，還很便宜。厚底木鞋讓人們的雙腳保持干燥，容易穿、脫。城里人幾乎不穿木鞋，但農民和園丁特別喜歡。因此，木鞋也被稱作“工作鞋”。不同職業的人穿的木鞋，設計上也各有不同。

穿木鞋走在田野比走在街上舒服多了。穿木鞋時，你最好穿上厚襪子。對于從未穿過木鞋的人來說，最好先練習，慢慢來。

有趣的是，木鞋容易裂開。“我的木鞋裂開了”其實是一句荷蘭俚語，指“意外事件發生了”。確實如此，沒有人希望自己穿的鞋會突然壞掉。木鞋隨時隨地會裂開，但人們不會對此太生氣。為什么呢？因為木鞋是木頭制成的，即使裂開，也不會傷到腳。而且荷蘭農民可以輕而易舉地用鐵釘把鞋子釘好。

今天的荷蘭，木鞋更多的是代表一種文化，而不是鞋履了。荷蘭的年輕人向未婚妻求婚時，通常會贈送一雙精致的木鞋，以表愛意。

如今，荷蘭的很多觀光商店都出售木鞋。但大多數木鞋盡管很漂亮，卻不是用來穿的。如果你想看真人穿木鞋，那就要去荷蘭的鄉下了。

Tip

propose to：意指“向……求婚”。如：He proposed to me.他向我求婚了。Propose作動詞，意思是“建議”“提議”，短語propose to do sth.指“打算做……”“計劃做……”。如：1）What do you propose to do now？現在你打算做什么？2）I propose to go to London this summer.我打算夏天到倫敦去。