2017年12月大学英语四级翻译练习：丝绸

2017年12月大学英语四级翻译练习：丝绸

　　请将下面这段话翻译成英文：

　　中国是丝绸的故乡。栽桑、养蚕、缫丝、织绸是中国古代人民的伟大发明。商周时期丝绸的生产技术就已发展到相当高的水平。西汉时张骞通西域，把中原与波斯湾、地中海紧密联系起来，开辟了中外交流贸易的新纪元。从此中国的丝绸以其卓越的品质、精美的花色和丰富的文化内涵闻名于世，成为中国文化的象征。东方文明的使者。

　　丝绸之路是历史上横贯欧亚大陆的贸易交通线，在历史上促进了欧亚非各国和中国的友好往来。中国是丝绸的故乡，在经由这条路线进行的贸易中，中国输出的商品以丝绸最具代表性。因此，当德国地理学家Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthoren最早在19世纪70年代将之命名为“丝绸之路”后，即被广泛接受。同时，它也是一条东方与西方之间经济、政治、文化进行交流的主要道路。

　　参考翻译:

　　China is the home of silk. Mulberry planting, sericulture, silk reeling and thickening are all great inventions of the ancient Chinese. As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties (1600BC-256BC), the Chinese people’s silk-weaving techniques had reached an extremely high level. During the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-25AD), Zhang Qian, an outstanding diplomat, travelled around central Asia and connected China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, opening up a new era of Sino-foreign trade, exchange and communication. From then on, China’s silk became well known for its extraordinary quality, exquisite design and color, and abundant culture connotations. Hitherto, Chinese silk has been accepted as a symbol of Chinese culture and the emissary of oriental civilization.

　　In history, “Silk Road” is a traffic line for trade going through Europe and Asia, which developed the friendship among the people from different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. China is the hometown of silk and silk has won the most prominent characteristic among all the commodities exported from China via that traffic line. Thereupon, when the German geographer Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthoren first called it as “Silk Road” in 1870s, that name was widely accepted. Meanwhile, it was also a major way through which the East and the West performed their communications in various fields, such as economy, politics and culture.