A road is a bridge between two places. The Silk Road has been a bridge East and West for more than 2,000 years. The Silk Road has been  (成为)included into the UNESCO World Heritage List（世界文化遗产名录）at the 38^th session of the World Heritage Committee in Doha.

    But did you know: the Silk Road is not a single route（路线）! It is a series of  （贸易）and cultural transmission（传递）routes. It began during the Western Han Dynasty. The trade route starts from the city of Xi'an in Shannxi Province and  （终端）in Eastern Europe, near today's Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. The Silk Road was about 6,500 kilometers long. It went  （横穿）one-fourth of the planet.

The Silk Road got its  （名字）because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road. Apart from silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome. From the west came glass, gems and food  （像）carrots and sesame（芝麻）.

    The Silk Road was very  （重要）to both China and the rest of the world. Besides trade, knowledge about science, arts and literature, as well as crafts and technologies was （共享）across the Silk Road. In this way, languages and cultures developed and  （影响）each other.

    Today, （地方）along the Silk Road are great travel destinations（目的地）,such as the Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang Gansu.