The Silk Road was an ancient trade network that allowed people to transport goods across Eurasia.

丝绸之路是一个古老的贸易网络，贯穿欧亚大陆，方便人们运输货物8;16W;M0iDS%a~。

It gained its name because silk was one of the most popular commodities traded on its routes.

丝绸之路之所以得名，是因为丝绸是这条路线上最受欢迎的商品之一RN7AFmb#]F。

Merchants who travelled along the Silk Road also traded horses, spices, tea, weapons, and gunpowder.

沿丝绸之路旅行的商人也交易马匹、香料、茶叶、武器和火药ZE6D-dB=jd_^nap=。

However, people didn’t only trade goods on the Silk Road.

而且，人们在丝绸之路上不仅交易商品zV,7p6H^rTPied,TjBOw。

The travelling between countries caused the spread of religion, including Christianity and Buddhism.

商人在各国穿梭时，还传播了宗教，比如基督教和佛教KQ7CBtN~oJg1HmpN%a-D。

Journeys along the Silk Road also may have caused the spread of the Black Death.

丝绸之旅也可能导致了黑死病的传播dS+bsdN;KGHgM1S=Oz。

The use of the Silk Road began during the Han Dynasty in China, and continued until the mid-15th century.

丝绸之路开通于中国的汉代，并一直沿用到15世纪中期dPjV_JoWUigz。

By then, the Ottoman Empire was making it difficult to travel from Europe to Asia, which caused explorers to look for different routes through the sea.

那时，奥斯曼帝国正阻挠从欧洲到亚洲的旅行，迫使探险家们在海上另寻道路)tHhGbf7RWnjX=。