Silk is a fine, smooth material produced from the cocoons - soft protective shells - that are made by mulberry silkworms (insect larvae). 丝绸是一种用蚕茧生产出来的精良光滑的材料——这些蚕茧是蚕虫们柔软的保护壳，是由桑树上的蚕虫（昆虫幼虫）制作出来的。 Legend has it that it was Lei Tzu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, ruler of China in about 3000 BC, who discovered silkworms. 相传，公元前3000年，中国的统治者是黄帝，黄帝的妻子嫘祖发现了蚕。 One account of the story goes that as she was taking a walk in her husband's gardens, she discovered that silkworms were responsible for the destruction of several mulberry trees. 有一个版本的故事是这样描述的：当嫘祖在她丈夫的花园里散步的时候，她发现蚕虫们损毁了好几棵桑树。 She collected a number of cocoons and sat down to have a rest. 于是她采集了一些蚕茧后就坐下休息。 It just so happened that while she was sipping some tea, one of the cocoons that she had collected landed in the hot tea and started to unravel into a fine thread. 很巧的是，正当喝茶的时候，一个她刚刚采集的蚕茧掉进了她的热茶里面，开始散开形成了很细的线。 Lei Tzu found that she could wind this thread around her fingers. 嫘祖发现她可以把这些线绕在她的手指上。 Subsequently, she persuaded her husband to allow her to rear silkworms on a grove of mulberry trees. 然后，她说服她的丈夫允许她在一个小桑树林里养殖一些蚕。 She also devised a special reel to draw the fibres from the cocoon into a single thread so that they would be strong enough to be woven into fabric. 她还设计出了一个特殊的卷轴把蚕茧上的丝拉成一根根的丝线，这样这些丝线就可以很结实得用来织成丝布。 While it is unknown just how much of this is true, it is certainly known that silk cultivation has existed in China for several millennia. 虽然这个故事有多少真实性是未知的，但是很确定的是，养蚕业已经在中国存在了几千年。

Originally, silkworm farming was solely restricted to women, and it was they who were responsible for the growing, harvesting and weaving. 最开始的时候，养蚕只是女人的事，也就是这些女人养蚕，收蚕茧并且织锻。 Silk quickly grew into a symbol of status, and originally, only royalty were entitled to have clothes made of silk. 丝绸很快就变成了地位的象征，而且起初只有贵族才可以有权利用丝绸做衣服。 The rules were gradually relaxed over the years until finally during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD), even peasants, the lowest caste, were also entitled to wear silk. 随着时间推移，这样的惯例就越来越松了，最终到清朝（公元1644-1911年）即使是最低阶层的农民也有权利穿绸缎了。 Sometime during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), silk was so prized that it was also used as a unit of currency. 在汉朝（公元前206-公元220年）丝绸珍贵到可以用来做货币。 Government officials were paid their salary in silk, and farmers paid their taxes in grain and silk. 政府官员的薪资是用丝绸来支付的，农民也可以用谷物和丝绸来缴税。 Silk was also used as diplomatic gifts by the emperor. 丝绸也被帝王用作外交礼物。 Fishing lines, bowstrings, musical instruments and paper were all made using silk. 钓鱼线，弓弦，音乐器材还有纸都可以用丝绸来做。 The earliest indication of silk paper being used was discovered in the tomb of a noble who is estimated to have died around 168 AD. 最早使用的丝绸做的纸的迹象是在一个贵族的坟墓中发现的，据估计这个贵族大约死于公元168年。

Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the Silk Road, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wool to the East. 对这种异国面料的需要最终形成了这条获利丰润的贸易之路，现在称之为“丝绸织路”，这条路把丝绸运送到西方，把金银和羊毛带回东方。 It was named the Silk Road after its most precious commodity, which was considered to be worth more than gold. 它就是用它路上运输的比金子还值钱的最珍贵的货物来命名为“丝绸之路”的。 The Silk Road stretched over 6,000 kilometres from Eastern China to the Mediterranean Sea, following the Great Wall of China, climbing the Pamir mountain range, crossing modern-day Afghanistan and going on to the Middle East, with a major trading market in Damascus. “丝绸之路”绵延六千多公里，从东方的中国一直到地中海，途径中国长城，跨越帕米尔高原，穿过现在的阿富汗地区，直到中东，在大马士革设立了重要交易市场。 From there, the merchandise was shipped across the Mediterranean Sea. 从那里，商品会被船运输到地中海地区。 Few merchants travelled the entire route; goods were handled mostly by a series of middlemen. 很少商人会走完全程，货品大多数都是有一些中间人进行买卖。

With the mulberry silkworm being native to China, the country was the world's sole producer of silk for many hundreds of years. 因为桑蚕产于中国，所以在几百年来这个国家是世界上唯一的一个丝绸出产国。 The secret of silk-making eventually reached the rest of the world via the Byzantine Empire, which ruled over the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East during the period 330-1453 AD. 丝绸制作业的秘密最终是由拜占庭帝国传播到世界其他地方，这个帝国在公元330－1453年期间统治了南欧，北非，中东这些地区。 According to another legend, monks working for the Byzantine emperor Justinian smuggled silkworm eggs to Constantinople (Istanbul in modern-day Turkey) in 550 AD, concealed inside hollow bamboo walking canes. 还有一种说法是在公元550年，为拜占庭帝王查士丁尼，工作的僧人们将蚕卵藏在空心的竹手杖中，偷运到了君士坦丁堡（现土耳其的伊斯坦布尔）。 The Byzantines were as secretive as the Chinese, however, and for many centuries the weaving and trading of silk fabric was a strict imperial monopoly. 但是，拜占庭人和中国人一样保守此机密，在当时的几个世纪里，丝绸的纺织和交易严格囿于皇室垄断。 Then in the seventh century, the Arabs conquered Persia, capturing their magnificent silks in the process. 之后，在七世纪时，阿拉伯人占领了波斯，同时获取了他们极好的丝绸。 Silk production thus spread through Africa, Sicily and Spain as the Arabs swept through these lands. 因此，在阿拉伯人横扫这些地区的时候，丝绸产品才在非洲，西西里岛，西班牙蔓延开去。 Andalusia in southern Spain was Europe's main silk- producing centre in the tenth century. 在十世纪时，西班牙南部的安达鲁西亚时欧洲主要的丝绸生产中心。 By the thirteenth century, however, Italy had become Europe's leader in silk production and export. 但是，到十三世纪的时候，意大利却成为了丝绸生产和出口的老大。 Venetian merchants traded extensively in silk and encouraged silk growers to settle in Italy. 威尼斯商人大肆进行丝绸贸易，刺激了丝绸种植者们在意大利定居。 Even now, silk processed in the province of Como in northern Italy enjoys an esteemed reputation. 即使到现在，在意大利北部城市科摩省加工的丝绸依然享有受人尊崇的声誉。

The nineteenth century and industrialisation saw the downfall of the European silk industry. 十九世纪和工业革命见证了欧洲丝绸行业的衰落。 Cheaper Japanese silk, trade in which was greatly facilitated by the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of the many factors driving the trend. 苏伊士运河的开通让贸易往来更为便捷，更为便宜的日本丝绸是导致这种衰落的众多原因之一。 Then in the twentieth century, new manmade fibres, such as nylon, started to be used in what had traditionally been silk products, such as stockings and parachutes. 之后的二十世纪，新人造面料，像尼龙，开始用于我们传统的丝绸产品中，如袜子和降落伞中。 The two world wars, which interrupted the supply of raw material from Japan, also stifled the European silk industry. 两场世界大战既阻断了来自于日本对生丝的供应，也抑制了欧洲的丝绸产业。 After the Second World War, Japan's silk production was restored, with improved production and quality of raw silk. 在二战之后，日本的丝绸生产复苏了，生丝的质量和产品都得到了提高。 Japan was to remain the world's biggest producer of raw silk, and practically the only major exporter of raw silk, until the 1970s. 直到二十世纪七十年代，日本仍然是世界上最大的生丝产地，也是生丝的主要出口国。 However, in more recent decades, China has gradually recaptured its position as the world's biggest producer and exporter of raw silk and silk yarn. 但是在最近几十年间，中国又逐渐重获它作为最大生丝产国和生丝及丝线出口国的地位。 Today, around 125,000 metric tons of silk are produced in the world, and almost two thirds of that production takes place in China. 如今，全世界丝绸产量大概是十二万五千公吨，其中将近三分之二的产品产于中国。