請(qǐng)將下面這段話翻譯成英文：

　　中國(guó)是絲綢的故鄉(xiāng)。栽桑、養(yǎng)蠶、繅絲、織綢是中國(guó)古代人民的偉大發(fā)明。商周時(shí)期絲綢的生產(chǎn)技術(shù)就已發(fā)展到相當(dāng)高的水平。西漢時(shí)張騫通西域，把中原與波斯灣、地中海緊密聯(lián)系起來(lái)，開(kāi)辟了中外交流貿(mào)易的新紀(jì)元。從此中國(guó)的絲綢以其卓越的品質(zhì)、精美的花色和豐富的文化內(nèi)涵聞名于世，成為中國(guó)文化的象征。東方文明的使者。

　　絲綢之路是歷史上橫貫歐亞大陸的貿(mào)易交通線，在歷史上促進(jìn)了歐亞非各國(guó)和中國(guó)的友好往來(lái)。中國(guó)是絲綢的故鄉(xiāng)，在經(jīng)由這條路線進(jìn)行的貿(mào)易中，中國(guó)輸出的商品以絲綢最具代表性。因此，當(dāng)?shù)聡?guó)地理學(xué)家Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthoren最早在19世紀(jì)70年代將之命名為“絲綢之路”后，即被廣泛接受。同時(shí)，它也是一條東方與西方之間經(jīng)濟(jì)、政治、文化進(jìn)行交流的主要道路。

　　參考翻譯:

　　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.