【推荐1】The Silk Road is the name of different roads that long ago connected Europe, Africa And Asia. People reached these different places along these roads. Scientists believe people began to travel the Silk Road about 3,000 years ago. By the time the Chinese silk trade became important in the world, the Silk Road had covered almost 6,500 kilometers. It spread from Rome to China, which is from the West to the Far East.

Traders traveling along the Silk Road carried silk of course. They also carried and traded spices（香料）, cloth, valuable stones and gold.

There is a famous old story along the old road. It is said that Roman soldiers traveled through central Asia. They started to live somewhere near the ancient Chinese village of Liqian. Some of these Romans married local Chinese women and the story of blue-eyed villages of China was started.

During its busiest period, the Silk Road allowed people from many different cultures and countries to meet each other and mix. The Silk Road allowed the sharing of valuable goods and new ideas. These included people and trading goods from the Mediterranean, Persian, Magyar, American, Britain, Indian and Chinese areas. All these people traveled the Silk Road, and they shared goods, stories, languages and cultures.

In modern times, the old Silk Road routes（路线）are still used, but now they are crossed by trains instead of camels and horses. There is even a Silk Route Museum in Jiuquan in China. It has over 35,000 objects from all along the Silk Road. In this way, China protects the history of many countries and peoples.

【推荐1】The History of Tofu

【推荐2】There are two ways of driving in the world: if the driver's seat is on the left and cars travel on the right side of the road, it is called "left-hand driving", as it is in China, while the other way of driving is called "right-hand driving", as it is in Britain. Nowadays, around 65% of the world's population drives on the right of the road, while the rest is used to driving on the left.

Though no one knows the exact reasons, it seems likely that people in ancient times travelled on the left of the road. Roman coins show pictures of horsemen passing on each other's right. And right-hand people generally got on a horse from the animal's left. Obviously, it's safer to do this at the left side of the road, and it makes sense(行得通)for the horse to be ridden on the left.

A change happened in the late 1700s. When Napoleon(拿破仑)conquered(攻占)nations, he forced them to travel on the right side of the road, which spread left-hand driving throughout Europe. However, Britain still stuck with the right-hand driving rule and countries which were part of the British Empire were made to follow. This is why India, Australia and the former British colonies(前英国殖民地)in Africa continue to drive on the left. One exception(例外)is Egypt, as that country was defeated(打败)by Napoleon before becoming part of the British Empire.

Some countries changed sides until modern times. Sweden only moved to driving on the right in 1967 and Iceland changed the following year. Ghana changed sides in 1974. On September 7,   2009, Samoa became the third country ever to change from left-to-right-hand driving for the reason that it made it easier to import(进口) cheap cars from right-hand driving Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

So if you want to travel to another country or go on business, make sure you know whether it is left-or right-hand driving to avoid unnecessary troubles.

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Everyone knows Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day.But why does it have such a bad reputation(名誉)?

One reason is that both Friday and the number 13 have some troubled ties to Christianity(基督教)．    1     Ever since，the day has been connected with “bad luck”．

In the Middle Ages，for instance，weddings were not held on Fridays.    2     Friday was also unlucky in medieval times because it was “hangman's day”．

As for the number 13，seating 13 people at a table was seen as bad luck because Judas Iscariot，the disciple(门徒) who betrayed Jesus，is said to have been the 13th guest at The Last Supper.

It's unclear exactly when Friday and the number 13 became connected.    3    

In 1907，Thomas Lawson wrote a book titled Friday，the Thirteenth，which described a stockbroker (股票经纪人) choosing this day to bring down Wall Street.

Vyse，who specializes in the psychology of superstitions，says this is a kind of belief.    4    

Although there's evidence(证据) that believing in lucky symbols is helpful，Friday the 13th represents a kind of fear.

In fact，fear of Friday the 13th has a name：paraskavedekatriaphobia(黑色星期五恐惧症)．In Vyse's view，“    5    ”