| 长相“丝”守：丝绸之路话从头-2 In spite of its name, silk was not the most important commodity traversing the Silk Road. 虽然名为“丝绸之路”，丝绸却并不是穿过该路线运送的最重要的“商品”。 That honor fell to religion. Along the northern branch of the route, Buddhism made its way from India to China in the fourth and fifth centuries. 这项荣誉应归于宗教。 公元第四、五世纪时，佛教沿着路线的北支从印度传入中国。 Christianity also made an appearance in the seventh century, when merchants carried the faith from northern Iran to Changan. 基督教也在公元七世纪时，由商人从伊朗北 部传到长安，首次在中土出现。 Not long after the Tang era (618-907), when trade along the Silk Road had reached its height, the fearsome Genghis Khan and his Mongol armies conquered a vast area spanning much of Central Asia. 唐代是丝绸之路沿途贸易活动的鼎盛时期，在唐代王朝灭亡后不久，令人闻风丧胆的成吉思汗及其蒙古大军征服了横跨中亚大部分地区的广阔领土。 Accordingly, the Silk Road became an important communication route between different parts of the Mongol Empire. 丝绸之路于是成为蒙古帝国各部落间重要的交通线路。 During the rule of Kublai Khan, more Europeans began venturing towards China along the Silk Road. 忽必烈统治期间，更多的欧洲人冒险沿着丝绸之路来到中国。 The most famous of these travelers was Marco Polo, whose thoughts and adventures were later recorded and embellished by an Italian romance writer. 这些旅行者中最出名的就是马可波罗，他的所见所闻后来被一位意大利传奇小说家记载下来，并加以润色。 During the 14th century, with the disintegration of the Mongol Empire, the isolationist policies of the Ming Dynasty, and the development of the silk route by sea, the Silk Road was forced into decline. 14世纪时，蒙古帝国瓦解、明朝实行闭关政策，加上“海上丝路”的发展，丝绸之路被迫走向没落。 Renewed interest in it emerged only among Western scholars near the end of the 19th century. 直到近19世纪末，才有西方学者重新燃起了对丝绸之路的兴趣。 The existence of ancient cities excited them, and an archaeological free-for-all began. 古城的存在让他们兴奋不已，于是掀起了一阵考古热潮。 These days, those seeking out treasures of the Silk Road can find what they are looking for in such far-flung places as London, Delhi, and Berlin. 现在，想在丝绸之路寻宝的人们，在伦敦、德里、柏林等许多地方，都可以找到他们想要的东西。 |
