英语知识73（1/1）

adventure can pay for an exciting Silk Road holday. But whatwas the Silk Road, and what was it like in Marco Polo's tme?The Silk Road was a 6,500-kilometre-long route betweenChina and Europe. It started in the second century BC andit was very important at the time of Marco Polo. Tradersused the route to bring silk, spices, and many other things toEurope from the East.

Traders could move from place to place on the SilkRoad, and buy and sell things as they travelled. Bur lifc on theroad was hard and dangerous. Merchants like Marco Polooften journeyed together in large groups called caravans toprotect themselves against thieves along the route.Marco Polo's book The Description of the World tells usabout his long journey to China and back on the Silk Road.But a small number of people think that he did not really goto China - he just wrote down stories from other travellers.Because Marco did not describe the Great Wall of China ortalk about other important things like tea, they think that hedid not travel or live there.

But most people think that Marco's long description ofhis journey to the East is true. Only a visitor to China couldlcarn so much about Chinese people and places.aiks diruad othe mnoTun thing- hi:os the think tha h

las mnk moand, thinik, thas: Nnsoh bong desrINon o1ia- snura n the lac aIV.