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Secrets Of Silk Production
蠶絲生產的秘密
Fifteen hundred years ago in China, silk production was a state secret.
在1500年前的中國，蠶絲的生產方法是國家機密。
The silk trade was so valuable that anyone who tried to take silkworm eggs or mulberry seeds out of China was put to death. Then in 552 AD, two monks smuggledsilkworm eggs to Constantinople, and silk production spread worldwide. Now that the secret’s out, we can safely talk about how silkworms and humans make luxurious silk cloth.
當時，絲綢貿易的利潤是如此豐厚，不論誰試圖從中國向外走私蠶卵或桑籽都將會被處死。直到公元552年，兩個和尚偷偷把蠶卵攜帶到了君士坦丁堡，絲綢生產被傳播到了全球。既然秘密已經被公開了，我們就可以安全地談論蠶和人類如何制造絲綢了。
A silkworm actually isn't a worm at all. It's a type of caterpillar that once existed in the wild, but now only survives in domesticated form. Silkworms are fussy eaters, dining only on mulberry leaves. When a silkworm has had its fill, it spins a cocoon from a single strand of silk, two to three thousand feet long!
蠶事實上根本就不是蠕蟲。它其實是一種鱗翅目幼蟲，曾經生存于野外，但現在存活的只有人類家養的。蠶對事物很挑剔，它只吃桑樹的葉子。當它吃夠了，就會吐絲結繭，它的繭是由一根長達兩三千英尺的絲結成的。
According to legend, a Chinese empress discovered how to harvest silk when a cocoon fell into her tea. She plucked it from the teacup by the loose end of the silk, then unraveled the whole cocoon. To harvest silk commercially, cocoons are first steamed to kill the pupae inside. This is because the silkworm would break the silk if it began to emerge as a moth. Next the cocoon is dunked in hot water, rather than tea, to dissolve the sticky coating that binds the silk. Then a machine unwinds the single strand that makes up each cocoon. Twisted together, these strands make the fine thread used to weave silk cloth.
據傳說記載，有個蠶繭掉到了中國一位皇后的茶水中，這位皇后從而發現了獲得蠶絲的方法。她拿著蠶絲散開的一頭把蠶繭從茶杯中拿了出來，接著解開了整個蠶 繭。商業上獲取蠶絲時，首先會把蠶繭蒸一下以殺死里面的蛹。這是因為當蠶蛹蛻化為蛾子破繭而出時會咬斷蠶絲。接著，將蠶繭浸入熱水中，而不是泡在茶水中， 以溶解把蠶絲互相粘在一起的粘性覆蓋物。然后會有種機器把構成每個蠶繭的那根絲抽出來，這些絲纏在一起就制成了用于紡織絲綢的細絲線。
