The Silk Road

◎王瑩瑩

The Silk Road

◎王瑩瑩

One of the world’s most ancient and historically important trade routes，the world renowned Silk Road is a series of routes connecting the East and the West.Extending as far as the Indian kingdoms in the west，to present day Xi’an in China in the east，the Silk Road was already a crossroads of Asia by the third century B.C..

The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean.Because silk comprised a large proportion of trade along this road，in 1877，it was named the Silk Road by an eminent German geographer.

The Silk Road represents the ancient Chinese silk trade.The Silk Road trade played an important role in China，South Asia，Europe and Africa.It was through the Silk Road that Chinese papermaking，gunpowder，the compass and the printing press spread all over the world.Similarly，Chinese silk，tea and porcelain also spread all over the world through the Silk Road.And Europe exported all kinds of goods and plants through the Silk Road to meet the needs of the Chinese market.

譯文

世界上最古老、歷史上最重要的貿易路線之一——絲綢之路(the Silk Road)，是一條連接東西方的路線。絲綢之路綿亙遠長，西至印度王國，東到中國現在的西安，早在公元前3世紀，絲綢之路就已經成為了亞洲交通的十字路口。

絲綢之路是歷史上連接中國和地中海的一條重要貿易路線。因為這條路上的絲綢貿易占絕大部分，所以在1877年，它被德國的一位地理學家命名為“絲綢之路”。

絲綢之路是古代中國的絲綢貿易之路，在中國、南亞、歐洲和非洲發揮著重要作用。正是通過絲綢之路，中國的造紙、火藥、指南針、印刷術傳遍世界各地。同樣，中國的絲綢、茶葉和瓷器也傳遍世界各地，歐洲也是通過絲綢之路出口各種商品和植物，滿足中國市場的需要。

注釋

silk絲綢

ancient古代的；古老的

historically歷史上的

route路線；航線；通道

extend延伸；擴大

crossroad十字路口；交叉路

international國際的

Mediterranean地中海

comprise包含；由……組成

proportion比例；面積

eminent杰出的；有名的；明顯的

represent代表；表現

play an important role in有很大的作用

papermaking造紙；造紙業

gunpowder火藥

compass指南針，羅盤

printing印刷

press壓；按

spread傳播；伸展

porcelain瓷；瓷器