A banker in London sends the latest stock info to his colleagues in Hong Kong in less than a second.
一位伦敦商人把他最新的股票信息在不到一秒的时间内发送给了他在香港的同事。
With a single click, a customer in New York orders electronics made in Beijing,
美国纽约的客户点下鼠标，就下了订单购买北京制造的电子产品，
transported across the ocean within days by cargo plane or container ship.
几天内就通过货运飞机或是海运集装箱把货物从大洋的一端运到了另一端。
The speed and volume at which goods and information move across the world today is unprecedented in history.
当今全球的货物和信息流动的速度和总量，都是史无前例的。
But global exchange itself is older than we think,
但是全球商品交流的历史要比我们想象的古老的多，
reaching back over 2,000 years along a 5,000 mile stretch known as the Silk Road.
2000年前，沿着一条5000英里长的道路，即著名的丝绸之路，这一活动就已经开始。
The Silk Road wasn't actually a single road,
丝绸之路并不只是一条道路，
but a network of multiple routes that gradually emerged over centuries,
而是许多交错纵横的路线，这些路线是在几个世纪中逐渐出现的，
connecting to various settlements and to each other thread by thread.
一条条的路线通向不同的栖居地，也将它们相互连接在一起。
The first agricultural civilizations were isolated places in fertile river valleys,
最原始的农业文明发源于偏远的、肥沃的河谷之中，
their travel impeded by surrounding geography and fear of the unknown.
周围地势的不便以及对未知的恐惧阻碍了当地人的交往。
But as they grew, they found that the arid deserts and steps on their borders were inhabited,
当地人在这里居住过一段时间后，他们发现他们在干旱的沙漠和边界周围所住着的，
not by the demons of folklore, but nomadic tribes on horseback.
不是民间传说里的魔鬼，而是马背上的游牧部落。
The Scythians, who ranged from Hungary to Mongolia,
从蒙古到匈牙利遍布的西塞亚人，
had come in contact with the civilizations of Greece, Egypt, India and China.
早就跟希腊、埃及、印度以及中国有所接触。
These encounters were often less than peaceful.
这些接触通常都不是和平的。
But even through raids and warfare, as well as trade and protection of traveling merchants in exchange for tariffs,
但即便是通过突袭、战争、贸易以及以保护往来商人为条件增收税务，
the nomads began to spread goods, ideas and technologies between cultures with no direct contact.
游牧民族将货物、思想和技术扩散到了那些没有直接接触的文明之间。
One of the most important strands of this growing web was the Persian Royal Road,
在这个不断扩大的网络当中，最重要的一条就要数波斯御道了。
completed by Darius the First in the 5th century BCE.
这条御道是在公元前五世纪由大流士一世完成的。
Stretching nearly 2,000 miles from the Tigris River to the Aegean Sea,
它从底格里斯河一直延绵至爱琴海，全长约2000英里，
its regular relay points allowed goods and messages to travel at nearly 1/10 the time it would take a single traveler.
货物和信息在其中继点通行所需的时间仅是单个旅客所需时间的十分之一。
With Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia, and expansion into Central Asia through capturing cities like Samarkand,
随后亚历山大大帝征服了波斯，通过占领例如撒马尔罕这种城市，其疆域一直扩展到了中亚，
and establishing new ones like Alexandria Eschate,
此外他还建立了例如苦盏城这样新的城池，
the network of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Indian culture and trade extended farther east than ever before,
希腊、埃及、波斯以及印度这些国家的文明和贸易网络向东延伸的程度达到了历史之最，
laying the foundations for a bridge between China and the West.
这为中国和西方之间的沟通桥梁打下了基础。
This was realized in the 2nd century BCE, when an ambassador named Zhang Qian, sent to negotiate with nomads in the West,
直到公元前二世纪，一位名叫张骞的大使被派往前去跟西方的游牧部落谈判，
returned to the Han Emperor with tales of sophisticated civilizations,
回到中国之后他向当时的汉朝皇帝讲述了许多有关其边界西部地区古老的文明、
prosperous trade and exotic goods beyond the western borders.
蓬勃的贸易以及奇异的货物的故事。

Ambassadors and merchants were sent towards Persia and India to trade silk and jade for horses and cotton,
接着许多大使、商人相继被派往波斯和印度，用丝绸和玉交换他们的马和棉花。
along with armies to secure their passage.
当时随从的还有军队以保证他们旅途的安全。
Eastern and western routes gradually linked together into an integrated system spanning Eurasia,
东方和西方之间的道路逐渐形成了一个跨欧亚的网络，
enabling cultural and commercial exhange farther than ever before.
这一网络使得文化和商业交往程度达到了当时的历史之最。
Chinese goods made their way to Rome, causing an outflow of gold that led to a ban on silk,
中国的货物来到了罗马，造成大量的黄金外流，因此罗马禁止了丝绸交易，
while Roman glassware was highly prized in China.
罗马的玻璃器具在中国也十分受欢迎。
Military expeditions in Central Asia also saw encounters between Chinese and Roman soldiers.
中亚的远征军看到了中国和罗马军队的相遇。
Possibly even transmitting crossbow technology to the Western world.
甚至有可能石弓技术也是因此传到的西方。
Demand for exotic and foreign goods and the profits they brought,
对于异国货物的需求以及贸易带来的利益，
kept the strands of the Silk Road in tact, even as the Roman Empire disintegrated and Chinese dynasties rose and fell.
使得这条丝绸之路一直保存完好，尽管罗马帝国分崩离析，中国的朝代盛衰兴废。
Even Mongolian hoards, known for pillage and plunder, actively protected the trade routes, rather than disrupting them.
即使是那些以抢劫和掠夺而臭名昭著的蒙古囤积商人，也积极地保护这些贸易通道，而不是破坏它们。
But along with commodities, these routes also enabled the movement of traditions, innovations, ideologies and languages.
随着商品经济的发达，这条道路同时也使得文化、创新技术、思想和语言得以流通。
Originating in India, Buddhism migrated to China and Japan to become the dominant religion there.
发源于印度的佛教，传播到了中国和日本，成为亚洲地区最盛行的宗教。
Islam spread from the Arabian Penninsula into South Asia,
伊斯兰教从阿拉伯半岛传到南亚，
blending with native beliefs and leading to new faiths, like Sikhism.
和当地的信仰融合形成新的宗教，比如锡克教。
And gunpowder made its way from China to the Middle East forging the futures of the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughul Empires.
火药从中国传到中东，形塑了土耳其帝国、萨法维帝国与马拉塔帝国的未来。
In a way, the Silk Road's success led to its own demise as new maritime technologies, like the magnetic compass,
某种程度上说，丝绸之路成功地终结了自己，新的航海技术，像是磁罗盘，
found their way to Europe, making long land routes obsolete.
传往欧洲，使得陆地上的长程公路被淘汰了。
Meanwhile, the collapse of Mongol rule was followed by China's withdrawal from international trade.
与此同时，元朝瓦解后，中国从国际贸易版图消失。
But even though the old routes and networks did not last, they had changed the world forever and there was no going back.
但是就算旧的道路和贸易网络没能长久，它们也永久改变了世界，没有倒退的可能了。
Europeans seeking new maritime routes to the riches they knew awaited in East Asia
欧洲人寻找新的海上航道，想要寻找东亚的财富，
led to the Age of Exploration and expansion into Africa and the Americas.
导致了其在非洲和美洲的探索和扩张。
Today, global interconnectedness shapes our lives like never before.
今天，全球各国相互联络在前所未有地影响着我们的生活。
Canadian shoppers buy t-shirts made in Bangladesh, Japanese audiences watch British television shows,
加拿大消费者购买在孟加拉制作的T恤，日本观众观看英国电视节目，
and Tunisians use American software to launch a revolution.
突尼斯人使用美国的软件来组织革命。
The impact of globalization on culture and economy is indisputable.
全球化对文化和经济的影响是无可争议的。
But whatever its benefits and drawbacks, it is far from a new phenomenon.
但随之而来的好处与缺点，也不是新鲜事了。
And though the mountains, deserts and oceans that once separated us
虽然曾经隔断我们的高山、沙漠和海洋，
are now circumvented through super sonic vehicles, cross-continental communication cables,
如今可以通过超音速飞行器、跨大陆的通信电缆，
and signals beamed through space rather than caravans traveling for months,
跨越空间的信号来绕过，而不是通过旅行数月的沙漠旅行队，
none of it would have been possible without the pioneering cultures whose efforts created the Silk Road: history's first world wide web.
但如果没有开拓文化，上述一切都不会发生。这样的努力创造了丝绸之路：历史上上第一个万维网。