Daily Reading Practice · Nonfiction passage
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More than two thousand years ago, traderstrader (noun)A person who buys and sells goods, often traveling to different places to do so.≈ Synonym: merchant🇺🇿UZ: savdogar🇷🇺RU: торговец began to travel along a huge networknetwork (noun)A large system of connected roads, lines, or paths.≈ Synonym: system🇺🇿UZ: tarmoq🇷🇺RU: сеть of roads that connected China to Europe and the Middle East. This network became known as the Silk Road, named after the valuable silk clothsilk cloth (noun)A smooth, valuable fabric made from the threads produced by silkworms.≈ Synonym: silk fabric🇺🇿UZ: ipak mato🇷🇺RU: шёлковая ткань that merchantsmerchant (noun)People who buy and sell goods for profit, usually in large amounts.≈ Synonym: traders🇺🇿UZ: savdogarlar🇷🇺RU: купцы carried from China to the West. The routeroute (noun)A path or way that is followed to get from one place to another.≈ Synonym: path🇺🇿UZ: yo'nalish🇷🇺RU: маршрут was not a single road but a web of pathsweb of pathsA complicated network of many connected routes or trails.≈ Synonym: network of routes🇺🇿UZ: yo'llar tarmog'i🇷🇺RU: сеть путей that crossed deserts, mountains, and rivers, stretchingstretch (verb)Extending or reaching over a long distance.≈ Synonym: extending🇺🇿UZ: cho'zilib🇷🇺RU: простираясь for thousands of kilometers.
Merchants used the Silk Road to transporttransport (verb)To carry goods or people from one place to another.≈ Synonym: carry🇺🇿UZ: tashimoq🇷🇺RU: перевозить many goods besides silk. They carried spicesspice (noun)Strong-tasting plant substances used to flavor food.≈ Synonym: seasonings🇺🇿UZ: ziravorlar🇷🇺RU: специи, tea, precious stonesprecious stone (noun)Rare and valuable natural stones, such as diamonds or rubies.≈ Synonym: gems🇺🇿UZ: qimmatbaho toshlar🇷🇺RU: драгоценные камни, and metals such as gold and silver. In return, traders brought glass, wool, and horses back to China. Along the way, caravanscaravan (noun)Groups of traders and animals traveling together, especially across deserts.≈ Synonym: convoys🇺🇿UZ: karvonlar🇷🇺RU: караваны of camels moved slowly across harsh landscapesharsh landscape (noun)Difficult and unwelcoming areas of land, such as deserts or mountains.≈ Synonym: difficult terrain🇺🇿UZ: og'ir landshaftlar🇷🇺RU: суровые ландшафты, stopping at busy trading posts and oasis townsoasis town (noun)Small towns built around a fertile spot with water in a desert.≈ Synonym: desert settlements🇺🇿UZ: voha shaharchalari🇷🇺RU: оазисные городки to rest and exchange goods.
The Silk Road was much more than a trade routetrade route (noun)A path regularly used by merchants to carry and exchange goods.≈ Synonym: trading path🇺🇿UZ: savdo yo'li🇷🇺RU: торговый путь for goods. It also allowed ideas, religions, and inventions to spread between distant cultures. Buddhism traveled from India into China through these paths, while papermakingpapermaking (noun)The process of making paper by hand or machine.≈ Synonym: paper production🇺🇿UZ: qog'ozchilik🇷🇺RU: производство бумаги and gunpowdergunpowder (noun)An explosive powder originally invented in China.≈ Synonym: explosive powder🇺🇿UZ: porox🇷🇺RU: порох, both invented in China, eventually reached Europe. Scholarsscholar (noun)People who study a subject deeply and have great knowledge of it.≈ Synonym: academics🇺🇿UZ: olimlar🇷🇺RU: учёные, artists, and travelers exchangedexchange (verb)Gave and received something in return, such as goods or ideas.≈ Synonym: traded🇺🇿UZ: almashdilar🇷🇺RU: обменивались knowledge, which helped shapeshape (verb)To influence or form the way something develops.≈ Synonym: form🇺🇿UZ: shakllantirmoq🇷🇺RU: формировать the history of many civilizationscivilization (noun)Large, organized societies with their own culture, government, and history.≈ Synonym: societies🇺🇿UZ: sivilizatsiyalar🇷🇺RU: цивилизации.
Traveling the Silk Road was not easy. Merchants faced extreme weatherextreme weather (noun)Very harsh or dangerous weather conditions, such as intense heat or cold.≈ Synonym: severe weather🇺🇿UZ: og'ir ob-havo🇷🇺RU: экстремальная погода, banditsbandit (noun)Armed robbers who attack travelers, often in remote areas.≈ Synonym: robbers🇺🇿UZ: qaroqchilar🇷🇺RU: разбойники, and long stretchesstretch (noun)Long, continuous areas or periods, such as of land or time.≈ Synonym: spans🇺🇿UZ: masofalar🇷🇺RU: участки without water. Some journeys lasted for months or even years, and many travelers never reached their destinationdestination (noun)The place someone is traveling to.≈ Synonym: endpoint🇺🇿UZ: manzil🇷🇺RU: пункт назначения. Despitedespite (prep)Without being affected by something; in spite of.≈ Synonym: in spite of🇺🇿UZ: -ga qaramay🇷🇺RU: несмотря на these dangers, the promise of profitprofit (noun)Money gained from selling goods for more than they cost.≈ Synonym: gain🇺🇿UZ: foyda🇷🇺RU: прибыль and the desiredesire (noun)A strong wish or wanting to do or have something.≈ Synonym: wish🇺🇿UZ: istak🇷🇺RU: желание to exploreexplore (verb)To travel through a place to learn or discover new things about it.≈ Synonym: discover🇺🇿UZ: kashf qilmoq🇷🇺RU: исследовать new lands kept merchants moving along the route for centuriescentury (noun)Periods of one hundred years.≈ Synonym: hundreds of years🇺🇿UZ: asrlar🇷🇺RU: века.
By the fifteenth century, sea travel became faster and cheaper, and the Silk Road slowly lost its importance. Still, its legacylegacy (noun)Something important that remains from the past and affects the present.≈ Synonym: heritage🇺🇿UZ: meros🇷🇺RU: наследие remains strong today. It reminds us how trade can connect people from different parts of the world and how the exchange of goods and ideas can shape entire cultures for generations.