题目内容：

The Silk Road wasn’t actually a road. It was not even a single route(路线)。

The Silk Road was a name given to any route that led across China to Rome. Nobody knows when the Silk Road first connected China to the west for sure. But we think and learn that it was made about during the Han dynasty (BC206-AD220). The Silk Road covered the distance of about 7,000 kilometers. The Silk Road wasn’t actually one road. It was actually many roads that ran through different countries. The roads linked(连接) China to Rome. They ran through high mountains and the harsh(严酷的) deserts.

How many different towns, cities or countries do you think there were along the Silk Road? Nobody knows exactly how many towns, cities or countries there were. But some of the countries were China, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria. There were three main routes, and they were very dangerous. The northern route was from China to the Black Sea. The central route was from China to Persia, the Mediterranean Sea(地中海) and Rome. The last route, the southern route, was from China to Iran and India. It was very necessary for merchants(商人) to trade their goods from China to the west.

1.What does the Silk Road mean in Chinese?

2.How long was the Silk Road?

3.Does the article tell us the exact number of towns, cities…. Along the Silk Road?

4.How many main routes were there?

5.Who used the Silk Road most often and what did they use it for?