By Jennifer Bragg

Many children and adults around the world know the story of Cinderella： the tale of the unfortunate young girl who is forced to live with her ugly stepsisters and evil step mother. She lives and works as a maid for them and is treated poorly. One day， with the help of a fairy godmother， she goes to a ball and meets a charming prince， but she must return home before midnight. She escapes the party but leaves behind a glass slipper. The prince， besotted1 from the moment he meets Cinderella， takes the glass slipper and travels to seek out the mysterious beauty he met at the ball. The rest is fairytale history.

This story begs the question2： Are glass slippers actually comfortable， or even practical？ Probably not. They would be completely inflexible and probably very painful to walk in.

The First Shoes

Shoes have a very long history， and its no wonder， as most humans are born with feet and need to protect them from the elements3. Have you ever walked barefoot on the ground and felt pebbles jab your tender soles？4 Have you ever walked through mud，feeling its gloppy wetness ooze between the toes as you slip and slide in the muck？5 Imagine living in a world before there was pavement， smooth sidewalks or proper floors. Thousands of years ago， people needed a way to protect their feet because not only would they get dirty， they could be a conduit6 for disease or infection.

鞋子穿在人類腳下，一路走來，歷史悠久。早在遠古時期，人們就通過穿鞋來使自己免受自然環(huán)境的傷害。到了今天，有各種各樣風格不一的鞋子供我們選擇。鞋子不再像幾千年前那樣只有實用功能，而是展現著人們的個性和風采，承載著各地的民俗和文化。

Its difficult for historians to pinpoint exactly when humans start wearing shoes. Some of the materials that may have been used， especially if made of earthly materials， would have broken down in the environment over time. Therefore， the only information we can glean about early footwear is through fossilized remains.7

Experts have found that early populations of humans often used one of two materials to keep their feet safe： plants or animals. In 1938， archeologists found a number of pairs of sagebrush sandals inside a cave in the U.S. state of Oregon.8 For experts it was a treasure trove9： They didnt find just one pair but many， from childrens to adult-size shoes. Carbon dating later revealed that they were 9，000 to 10，000 years old and the volcanic ash they were buried in did an excellent job of preserving them.10

Later discoveries revealed that people alternatively fashioned shoes out of animal hides.11 One pair that was discovered in a cave in Armeniadated back to 3500 BC. They were preserved in a pile of sheep dung12， which did a remarkable job of keeping them intact. Archeologists believe the leather shoes were very durable for a lot of walking as well as their ability to withstand anything from very hot to freezing temperatures.

Shoe Cultures

There are some cultures where there are very clear customs for wearing shoes， like in Japan or Thailand. In Germany， many people purchase “Hausschuhe”or “house shoes” that are only worn indoors and do not carry the elements from outdoors.

Here are some examples of different countries and their shoe cultures：

Japanese Shoe Etiquette13

In Japan， entire books have been written around the cultural rules， including the etiquette for the wearing of shoes. Typically， when a person enters a home or other establishment， the shoes are removed and left in a space known as the “genkan14” before a person proceeds further. The host provides indoor slippers for guests， so its important to not only wear socks （or to have them on hand） but to make sure they are clean and without holes. If a person encounters a room with tatami flooring （a mat that is typically made of straw）， only bare feet or socks are permitted； no slippers. When entering a bathroom， there are special slippers that await a person outside the room， but should only be worn inside and nowhere else in the home.

Dutch Clogs15

When people think of the Netherlands， perhaps they envision vast plains of tulips， windmills and those delicious stroopwafel， the beloved caramel waffle cookies.16 When it comes to shoes， they are equally known for the wooden clog. They date back to around the year 1230， when people needed something sturdy17 to protect their feet from the harsh northern European environment. Back then， they were favorites among fishermen and farmers. By the 16th century， most Dutch people wore clogs， whether they were city dwellers18 or country folk.

However， the clog culture is changing. It used to be that every town had a clog-maker， and a new pair of shoes were carved， by hand， out of wood by a craftsman. Today those numbers are dwindling19 and only about 30 remain. Sadly， machines took over production and the dying craft has slowly been lost as lower demand and fashion won out.

American Sneaker20 Culture

Lets fast-forward to a very different and more modern culture of shoes： American sneakers. Would you believe that a waffle iron is what inspired an Oregonian track coach to create what is the multi-billiondollar shoe brand we know as Nike？21

While Nike is one of the most popular sneaker brands in the world， the invention of the sneaker came much earlier. In the 1860s， a man named Charles Goodyear found a way to create a rubber that could be used for the bottom of a shoe and would withstand high temperatures. Using rubber made the shoes flexible for sports， but adding other materials like lead and sulfur made them more durable and longer lasting.22 In the 1890s， basketball came on the scene and those kinds of shoes were seen as the best for the sport.

A hundred years later， by the 1980s and 1990s， shoe companies learned how to market to the rising popularity of basketball through stars like Michael Jordan and a hip-hop music culture that became synonymous with23 certain brands and styles of shoes. Teenage boys in particular collected the latest， “coolest” shoe brands based on what their idols wore. The strength of that star-quality sneaker culture has since faded， but it marked a turning point where celebrities and sports stars became synonymous with shoes.

Today there are so many different styles of shoes to choose from. No longer are shoes only used for their utilitarian24 function as they were thousands of years ago， when man needed something to protect and shelter his feet from the elements. Rather than making our own out of plants or animal skins， we pay tens or sometimes hundreds or even thousands of dollars for a nice pair of shoes. Imagine what a sheep herder in 3500 BC would think if he discovered a pair of Manolo Blahniks？25

1. besotted： 癡迷的，沉迷的。

2. beg the question： 令人置疑，使人納悶。

3. the elements： 天氣（尤指風雨）。

4. pebble： 鵝卵石；jab： 戳，刺；sole： 腳底，腳掌。

5. 你有沒有在泥地里走過？當你跌跌撞撞地走在淤泥里時，是否能感覺到又濕又黏的東西從腳趾間滲出？gloppy： 黏糊糊的；ooze： 滲出，冒出；muck：淤泥。

6. conduit： 渠道，通道。

7. glean：（慢慢地，艱難地）搜集；fossilized： 石化的，變成化石的。

8. archeologist： 考古學家；sagebrush：（美國西部常見的）灌木蒿；sandal： 涼鞋；Oregon： 俄勒岡州。

9. treasure trove： 有價值的發(fā)現物。

10. carbon dating： 碳定年法，根據測定古物中的放射性碳含量以計算年代；volcanic ash： 火山灰。

11. fashion： v.（尤指用手工）制作，使成形；hide： 獸皮。

12. dung： 糞。

13. etiquette： 禮節(jié)，禮儀。

14. genkan： 玄關，門口。

15. clog：（常用復數）木屐，木底鞋。

16. tulip： 郁金香；stroopwafel： 荷蘭松餅；caramel： 焦糖；waffle cookie： 華夫餅。

17. sturdy： 結實的，堅固的。

18. dweller： 居民，居住者。

19. dwindle： 縮小，減少。

20. sneaker： 運動鞋。

21. waffle iron： 華夫鐵板，華夫餅烤模；track： 田徑。

22. lead： 鉛；sulfur： 硫黃。

23. synonymous with： 與……同義。

24. utilitarian： 實用的。

25. sheep herder： 牧羊人；Manolo Blahnik： 馬諾洛·伯拉尼克，是由西班牙時尚設計師馬諾洛·伯拉尼克于1972年創(chuàng)立的鞋履品牌，其鞋子被稱為高跟鞋中的“貴族”。