A road is a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge between East and West for more than 2,000 years.
But do you know the Silk Road is not a single route(路线)?
It is a series of trade and cultural transmission (传送) routes. It began during the Western Han Dynasty. The trade route starts from the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi province and ends in Eastern Europe, near today’s Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was about 6,500 kilometers long. It went across one-fourth of the planet.
The Silk Road got its name because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Besides silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. From the west came glass, gems, and food like carrots and sesame.
The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was shared across the Silk Roads. In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other.
Today, places along the Silk Road are great travel destinations, such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and Mogao Grottoes (莫高窟) in Dunhuang, Gansu. Now, beginning in August, a new train line, the New Orient Express, runs from Beijing across the Silk Road.

Where does the Silk Road start and end?
A. Xi’an and Western Europe
B. Xi’an and Eastern Europe
C. Dunhuang and Eastern Europe
Many things were carried to China from the west along the Silk Road except______.
A. sesame          B. silk     C. gems
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Silk was once carried along the road, so it was named the Silk Road.
B. It went across one-fourth of the planet.
C. The Silk Road is about 1400 years old.
According to the passage, the Silk Road is meaningful NOT because______.
A. it connected China with the outside world
B. it was the longest road in the world
C. it’s one of the cultural transmission routes
We can infer from passage that_____.
A. now tourists can travel along the Silk Road by train
B. the Silk Road was the only route to spread culture in history
C. China didn’t benefit from (从……中收益)the Silk Road