The Silk (丝绸) Road was a route that connected people from the East and the West for hundreds of years and allowed     1     (they) to trade valuable goods with each other. But there’s more to the story. The Silk Road should     2     (real) be called the Silk Roads. The Silk Road,     3     started in China, went west and branched out into many routes.

The Silk Road started to take shape (成形) in the second century BC. Most people know that valuable goods travelled along the route: silk and tea from China; jewels and wood from India; gold and animals from East Africa. These goods     4     (trade) in cities along the route or ended up as far west     5     in Europe.

But the people     6     (travel) along the Silk Road were carrying something far     7     (valuable) than their goods. They were carrying ideas and technology. European travelers returned home with stories of huge Chinese ships they had seen. The compass (指南针) is an example of an     8     (invent) that came west from China. Europeans learned from Korean maps, which were advanced for the 1400s.

    9     was the Silk Road that shaped the world we know today. Many routes were a way for different people     10     (meet) each other and talk about the developing world.