Экзаменационный (типовой) материал ЕГЭ / Английский / 30-36 задание / 11

The Surprising Story of Jeans

         Do you know about the California Gold Rush? It happened in 1849. Gold was discovered and 40,000 people called prospectors went to look for it.
         Levi Strauss heard about them. He went to California in 1853. But he didn’t go to find lumps of gold. He went to sell materials needed for everyday life. He thought prospectors would need canvas for tents. It turned 30 ______ they needed pants. So he made pants out of his canvas. Soon Levi had used 31 ______ all his canvas. So he switched to another material – denim.
         In 1873, Levi Strauss partnered with Jacob Davis, a tailor from Nevada. They created denim pants with rivets, or short metal pins, to 32 ______ the pants from falling apart. This 33 ______ the birth of Levi’sÒ jeans. The pants they made were strong. They wore well. They had sturdy pockets to hold gold nuggets. Word spread. Soon everybody wanted “Levi’s pants”. They started calling them just “Levi’s”. 34 ______ time, Levi’s became another name for jeans.
         In the 20th century, Levi’s jeans became even more popular. If in the 1920s workers in the western United States were their biggest users, in the 1950s, movie stars such as Marlon Brando and James Dean wore jeans in films and on TV. Teens started wearing them, but jeans were not allowed in school.
         In the 1960s, jeans became more 35 ______ as more and more Americans wore them. The demand for Levi’s jeans grew in Europe and Asia. In the 1970s, a pair of Levi’s went on display at the Smithsonian Museum. It was part of the American history collection.
         Today jeans continue to be a popular clothing 36 ______. Many other companies make jeans in different designs and colors.