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Cultures and Caravans along the Silk Road 访丝绸之路　发千古幽思

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

Like a discarded antiquity, dust mostly gathers these days on the Silk Road, but it wasn’t always so. From around 100 B.C. until the fifteenth century, the Silk Road was abuzz with activity. Vast fortunes were lost and made as luxury goods passed hands along this 12,000-kilometer trade route.

丝路近来像是废弃的古物般，大都布满着灰尘，但情况并非总是如此。从公元前一百年左右至十五世纪，丝路可是活动频繁、交易热络。奢侈品就在这条长达一万两千公里的贸易路径上辗转易手，有人因而散尽家财，也有人因而飞黄腾达。

The Far East is naturally separated from Europe by a series of enormous mountain ranges and the nearly impassable Taklamakan Desert. The Silk Road began in Chang’an, China, branched into southern and northern routes which skirted the Taklamakan, then rejoined at Kashgar, and from there meandered south to India, or west towards the Mediterranean.

远东因绵延不绝的山脉和几乎无法穿越的塔克拉马干沙漠，而与欧洲自然隔绝。丝路的起点是中国古城长安，途中分成南北两条路线，这两条路线都绕过塔克拉马干沙漠，然后又在喀什交会。而由喀什一条向南迂回直到印度，一条则向西通到地中海。

The name “Silk Road’ itself is a nineteenth-century invention, for there was no single route, nor was silk the only commodity traded. Moreover, it’s likely that very few people ever traveled the road’s entire length; there are no records of Roman traders in China, and vice versa.

「丝路」这个名称是十九世纪才取的，因为当时的贸易路线不只一条，而且丝也不是唯一交易的商品。再者，有可能根本没有多少人曾经走完全程，因为没有罗马商人到过中国的记载，同样也没有中国商人到过罗马的记载。

Though Rome’s fascination with silk gave birth to the Silk Road, during its periods of peak activity in the Tang and Yuan Dynasties, caravans were loaded with other treasures like gunpowder, glass, amber, ivory, and spices. Along this route, products from the mysterious reaches of the Occident and the Orient reached homes a world away.

虽然丝路肇因于罗马人对丝的着迷，但在唐元两代，商队还满载着像是火药、玻璃、琥珀、象牙、香料之类的珍品。沿着这条路，来自东西方神秘境地的物品各自到达了远在世界的另一隅。

Vocabulary

单词发音

antiquity [ænˋtɪkwətɪ] n. 古代的遗物；古器物

abuzz [əˋbʌz] adj.（城市，会场，房间等）呈现活跃状态的

impassable [ɪmˋpæsəb!] adj. 不能通行的﹐无法通过的

skirt [skɝt] v. 绕过……的边缘

meander [mɪˋændɚ] v. 蜿蜒；曲折

Mediterranean [͵mɛdətəˋrenɪən] n.（M-）地中海

commodity [kəˋmɑdətɪ] n. 商品；日用品

vice versa【拉】反之亦然

give birth to  引起，产生

caravan [ˋkærə͵væn] n.（来往于沙漠的）商队

reach [ritʃ] n. 地带；大片地区

Occident [ˋɑksədənt] n.【文】西方﹐西方国家﹐西半球〔尤指欧洲和美洲〕

Sentence of the Day

For many traders, the Silk Road was practically a license to print money.

对许多商人来说，丝路简直像印钞机一样。

课文讲解

It wasn’t only loaded camels that trod along the Silk Road. Alexander the Great, Attila the Huh, and Genghis Khan altered the political face of the world as they galloped its length in search of conquest. The great explorer, Marco Polo, also traveled the Silk Road. Such an extensive movement of people meant that culture was exchanged in addition to precious cargo. It could be argued that religion was the most influential “commodity” to pass along the road. The Silk Road introduced Buddhism and Christianity to China. Later, Arabian armies blazed along its length with the explosive expansion of Islam.

不只满载货物的骆驼才会走丝路，亚历山大大帝、匈奴王阿提拉、成吉思汗当年亦驰骋在这条路上南征北讨，改变了整个世界的政治生态。伟大的探险家马可波罗也曾踏上丝路。丝路的旅人络绎不绝，意谓着除了贵重货物的交易外，文化也跟着交流了起来。宗教可说是这条路上最具影响力的「商品」，佛教与基督教经由丝路传入了中国，后来阿拉伯人的铁骑也在丝路扬蹄，积极向外扩张回教的版图。

In the fourteenth century, the Ming Dynasty prevailed over the nomadic culture of the Yuan Dynasty, which oversaw the road’s last great era. The Ming Dynasty’s isolationist policies, simmering tensions between Islam and Christianity, and the opening of sea routes effectively closed the Silk Road. As trade moved elsewhere, the road grew dusty.

十四世纪时，明朝战胜了由游牧民族建立的元朝，而元朝就是让丝路在末期得以大放异彩的朝代。明朝的锁国政策、与回教及基督教之间紧绷的关系、海权扩张，敲响了丝路的丧钟。当贸易取道他处后，这条路就灰飞烟灭跟着没落了。

Recently, the lure of tourism, the expansion of economic ties between China and former Soviet states, and the discovery of Central Asian oil have dusted the road off a bit. Though its recovery is far from complete, trucks and tourists are beginning to fill roads long abandoned by camels and caravans.

近来，由于观光业的吸引力、中国与前苏联国家间经贸关系的扩张、中亚石油矿藏的发现，已让这条满布灰尘的古道稍微得以重见天日。虽然还无法回复昔日的盛况，卡车和游客已经开始涌入这个骆驼队商舍弃许久的路径。

－by Nick Wheeler

Vocabulary

单词发音

tread [trɛd] v. 踩，踏；在……上面走

gallop [ˋgæləp] v.〔马〕飞奔﹐疾驰

conquest [ˋkɑŋkwɛst] n. 征服；占领

Buddhism [ˋbʊdɪzəm] n. 佛教

Christianity [͵krɪstʃɪˋænətɪ] n. 基督教

blaze [blez] v. 炫示; 闪耀; 燃烧

prevail [prɪˋvel] v. 胜过，战胜[（+over/against）]

nomadic [noˋmædɪk] adj. 游牧的

oversee [ˋovɚˋsi] v. 监管﹐监察﹐监督

isolationist [͵aɪslˋeʃənɪst] adj. 孤立主义的；孤立主义者的

simmer [ˋsɪmɚ] v.  (冲突、争吵等)酝酿，即将爆发

lure [lʊr] n. 吸引力；魅力[the S][（+of）]

dust off  除去...的灰尘

Sentence of the Day

Businesses along the Silk Road hope to be riding high again soon.

丝路沿路的商机可望又将蓬勃发展。

ride high 获得成功