The silk story

The miracle of silk

Silk. The word itself is beautiful. The story starts in China over 4,000 years ago. One legend says a silkworm's cocoon fell into a woman’s teacup. It then opened into a single, unbroken thread. This was an important discovery. The Chinese learned they could use the cocoons to make cloth that was both beautiful to look at and soft to touch.

Making silk was a protected secret in China for many years. In other countries, silk was very rare and valuable. Often it was worth more than gold. Legend tells us that the secret finally got out when a princess left China to go to India. In her hair, she secretly carried many silkworms.

By the year 1 A.D., silk was sold as far west as Rome, and all along the Silk Road, which connected China with places in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Eventually, around the year 300, silk also traveled from China to Japan. Centuries later, in 1522, the Spanish brought silkworms to Mexico.

Nowadays people around the world still make many beautiful things from silk. But silk isn’t only beautiful. It looks delicate, but it’s actually very strong. For example, it has been used to make bicycle tires. And some doctors even use silk threads in hospital operations. Silk is also lightweight and warm. This makes it great for clothes like winter jackets, pants, and boots.

All of this from a little insect—the silkworm. That is the miracle of silk.

Silk weavers of Vietnam

Complete using the form or the printable sheet

We often think of silk as a soft material, used to make ____________ clothes.

We __________ think of silk as something that comes from a moth!

In the Vietnamese town of Vong Nguyet, people have made silk in the traditional way for 1,200 years--starting with the silkworm. How do they do it?

For three weeks, the silkworms make their cocoons. To do this, the __________ moves its head around in a circle.

It produces a long, _____________ silk fiber.

This single fiber ______________ from 400 to 600 meters long.

Next, people ______________ the cocoons in hot water. This frees the cocoons from the silkworms.

People then take the cocoons and spin these together to make a silk thread.

______________ , the people of Vong Nguyet still do a lot of this work by hand.

When the silk thread is made, it goes to the town of Van Phuc. Here, looms weave the thread into silk ________________.

Eventually, this can be used to make different kinds of clothes, like ____________, pants, and shirts.

"eventually " or "bring"

"silk road"

Type a word and listen to native speakers from all over the world.
For example:

"thread"