--- title: The Silk Road — how Mova does on the tests · Geography description: Lesson 28 of the geography course of Mova's primary school: 8 of 11 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/28-the-silk-road/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/) / 28 # The Silk Road **Tests:** 8 of 11 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 11 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 28 of the geography course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/28-the-silk-road/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/). ### Test 1 · right ✓ {#t1} Did traders in 1300 call it the Silk Road? - **1.** Yes, it was painted on every signpost — no support - **2.** No, the name was invented in 1877 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **3.** No, they called it the Spice Highway — score 5 - **4.** Yes, Marco Polo named it in his book — score 4 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 28, line 5: «Nobody in 1300 called it the Silk Road: a German geographer, Ferdinand von Richthofen, invented the name in 1877.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «invent» (+2); the same thing acted on «name» (+2); the same place «1877» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t1/) ### Test 2 · right ✓ {#t2} My mate thinks the Silk Road was one big straight road like a motorway. Fix it. - **1.** It was a tunnel under the mountains — no support - **2.** It was a long canal dug through the desert — no support - **3.** It was a web of many routes between oases and markets — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **4.** He is right, one paved road ran all the way from China to Rome — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 28, line 1: «Think of passing a note along a row of desks: nobody walks the whole way, each pupil hands it to the next. The Silk Road worked like that. It was not one road…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «road» (+4); the same thing acted on «one road» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t2/) ### Test 3 · right ✓ {#t3} Why were camels better than horses for crossing deserts? - **1.** They go long without water and cope with heat and cold — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **2.** Camels are faster than any horse — no support - **3.** Camels could swim across rivers — no support - **4.** Horses were not allowed in deserts by the rulers who owned the oases — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 18, line 14: «Camels, which can go a long time without water, carry heavy loads and cope with heat and sand, made regular caravans across the Sahara possible, carrying salt,…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «camels» (+4); the same action «cope» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t3/) ### Test 4 · right ✓ {#t4} Why did cities grow at oases? - **1.** Oases had gold lying on the ground — no support - **2.** Oases were cooler than the mountains — no support - **3.** Oases had water where caravans could rest and trade — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **4.** Oases were the only places where silkworms could live and spin — score 2 **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 28, line 2: «Caravans of two-humped Bactrian camels crossed cold deserts from one oasis to the next, resting at inns called caravanserais about a day's march apart. Oasis c…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «caravans» (+3); the same action «rest» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t4/) ### Test 5 · right ✓ {#t5} How can trade spread a disease? - **1.** Traders, animals and goods carry germs and fleas between places — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **2.** Silk itself causes the illness — no support - **3.** Diseases travel only by sea, never with traders — no support - **4.** Trade makes the air in markets poisonous, and people breathe it in — score 3 **Why:** It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 28, line 16: «The Black Death is thought to have spread from Central Asia westward along trade routes in the 1340s, its germs carried by traders, animals, goods and fleas, r…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «carry» (+2); the same thing acted on «germs» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t5/) ### Test 6 · right ✓ {#t6} Leo starts the game in 1337 and thinks the Mongol Empire is still one giant state. Put him right. - **1.** The Mongols had all moved to Europe — no support - **2.** The Mongols had never existed — no support - **3.** The empire had split into rival khanates, and the Ilkhanate was falling apart — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **4.** One Mongol khan still ruled everything from Korea to Hungary from his capital at Karakorum — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 28, line 12: «In the 1200s and 1300s the Mongol Empire controlled most of the Silk Road, making it safer for traders to cross.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «mongol empire» (+4); the same thing acted on «empire» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t6/) ### Test 7 · right ✓ {#t7} Why did the Mongols make travel easier? - **1.** One power ruled most of the routes and kept them safer — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 0 - **2.** They gave every trader a free camel and a guard — no support - **3.** They removed all the deserts — no support - **4.** They built a long railway across the whole of Asia — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 23, line 16: «A warmer climate makes heatwaves more common, dries the ground faster and, because warm air holds more water, can make heavy downpours heavier, and in 2022 Bri…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hold» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t7/) ### Test 8 · right ✓ {#t8} A teacher says Marco Polo's book is exact in every detail. Is that right? - **1.** No, the book was written in 1877 — no support - **2.** No, some details are doubted, though it was very influential — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **3.** Yes, every single word in it has been proved true by historians — no support - **4.** Yes, he took photographs to prove it — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 28, line 14: «Marco Polo of Venice wrote a famous account of his journey to the court of Kublai Khan in China in the late 1200s, though some details of his book are doubted.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «doubt» (+2); the same thing acted on «details» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t8/) ### Test 9 · wrong ✗ {#t9} What would happen to Samarkand if caravans stopped coming? - **1.** It would grow much richer — **← Mova's choice** · score 6 - **2.** It would turn into a sea port — score 4 - **3.** Nothing at all, because it never depended on trade — no support - **4.** It would lose much of its trade and wealth — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 28, line 2: «Caravans of two-humped Bactrian camels crossed cold deserts from one oasis to the next, resting at inns called caravanserais about a day's march apart. Oasis c…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «grow» (+4); the same property (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t9/) ### Test 10 · wrong ✗ {#t10} Why did sea routes take over from the Silk Road? - **1.** The Silk Road was flooded — score 2 - **2.** Ships could carry far more goods more cheaply — **✓ the right answer** · score 2 - **3.** Camels were banned by the Pope in all Christian lands — no support - **4.** The sea routes became shorter after 1500 — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 5: «In Europa Universalis 5 the Indian Ocean trade between Gujarat, Calicut, Aden and Malacca flows all year round. Real ships could not do that: they sailed with…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «ships» (+3); the same action «turn» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t10/) ### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11} According to a well-known story, monks smuggled something to the Byzantine Empire in the 500s. What? - **1.** Gunpowder recipes — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Sacks of potatoes — no support - **3.** Silkworm eggs — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Tea plant seeds — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/t11/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Identify the principal reason for which silk commanded a high price in the Roman world. - **1.** The Roman state levied no customs duties upon silk — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The Chinese long preserved the secret of its manufacture — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **3.** Silk was manufactured exclusively from precious metal — no support - **4.** Silk could be produced only during the winter months — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓ {#e2} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the routes hereinafter designated the Silk Road? - **1.** A network of overland routes along which goods passed between successive markets — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 4 - **2.** A canal excavated between China and the Mediterranean — no support - **3.** A single paved highway traversed in full by every merchant from China to the Mediterranean — no support - **4.** A maritime passage circumnavigating the continent of Africa — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 28, line 4: «Europa Universalis 5 passes trade from one market to the next in a chain, which is close to how the routes really worked. But at its start in 1337 the Mongol p…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «pass» (+3); the same place «one market» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e3} Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the diminished importance of the overland routes after about 1500. - **1.** The deserts of Central Asia became wholly impassable owing to a change of climate — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** The camel became extinct throughout Central Asia — no support - **3.** A greater share of trade between Europe and Asia was conveyed by sea — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** China ceased altogether the production of goods for export — no support **Why:** Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4} It is given that the designation "Silk Road" was not employed by medieval merchants. Ascertain its origin. - **1.** It was devised by the geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** It was devised by Marco Polo in the account of his travels — no support - **3.** It was devised by the Roman Senate in antiquity — no support - **4.** It was devised by Kublai Khan in an imperial decree — no support **Why:** No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/geography/28-the-silk-road/e4/) - ← previous: [27. Resources and what countries trade](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/27-resources-and-what-countries-trade/) - next →: [29. The spice trade and the Indian Ocean](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/29-the-spice-trade-and-the-indian-ocean/) - ↑ back to [Geography](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/geography/)