Reading — Test 53

Read the passage and answer the question.

The Silk Road was never a single paved highway but rather a sprawling network of trade routes linking East Asia with the Mediterranean. Goods such as silk, spices, and glass changed hands many times along the way, passing through the markets of countless intermediaries before reaching their final buyers. Just as importantly, the routes carried ideas: religions, artistic styles, and technologies spread between distant cultures that never met directly. Few traders traveled the entire length themselves; instead, most merchants covered only a single segment, exchanging their wares with the next link in a long commercial chain.