The caps and gowns worn by high school and college graduates today are survivors of the everyday dress worn by members of the academic community in medieval Europe. The majority of scholars in the Middle Ages6 were churchmen, or soon to become so, and their dress was often strictly regulated by the universities where they taught and studied. The standard clerical dress throughout Europe was the long black cope. The original preference for black was changed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, as such colors as red, violet and purple came into fashion; but by the Renaissance black was back, as the color black symbolized simple and plain, or austere way of life in the sixteenth century. With few exceptions, modern universities keep that ceremonial austerity.
The origin of the square flat cap, or mortarboard7 , is obscure, though it probably derives from the medieval biretta . Such a tufted square cap is considered the badge of the 024 mastership , and is later adopted by undergraduates and schoolboys. The term mortarboard does not appear in English until the 1850 s. The tassel that graduates transfer from one side to another as a signal of their elevation is an outgrowth of the medieval tuft. The tuft still appears on the modern biretta, worn by bishops throughout the Church of Rome .
阅读自测
Ⅰ. True o r false :
1. Nowadays, American pupils always offer an apple to the teacher in order to get a better grade.
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