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Marco Polo
馬可·波羅
By West Lake, in the city of Hangzhou, there is a small statue of a traveller. His name was Marco Polo.
在杭州西湖，有一個旅行者的小雕像，他的名字叫馬可·波羅。
Marco Polo grew up in the city of Venice, in present day Italy.
馬可·波羅在威尼斯城長大，在現今的意大利。
In 1271, when he was 17 years old, he set off on a journey to Asia with his father and uncle, and did not return home until 24 years later.
1271 年，當他 17 歲的時候，他跟隨他的父親和叔叔開始了他的亞洲旅程，并且在長達 24 年中一直沒有回家。
His travels took him across Asia, along the Silk Road and throughout China.
他的旅程橫穿亞洲，沿著絲綢之路，游遍整個中國。
He loved Hangzhou so much that he described it as “the finest city in the world”.
他很喜歡杭州，以至于他將其形容為“世界上最好的城市”。
When Polo finally returned to Venice, there was a war and he was captured.
當馬可·波羅最終回到威尼斯時，當時有一場戰爭，他被抓獲了。
While he was in prison, he told the stories of his travels to another man there.
他在監獄里時，他把他的旅行故事告訴了另一個人。
This man wrote the stories down in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.
這個人把這些故事寫成了一本書，取名叫《馬可·波羅游記》。
Because of the interesting descriptions of Asian life in the book, Polo's travels soon became well known in Europe.
因為書中對亞洲生活的精彩描述，很快馬可·波羅的旅游在歐洲被眾所周知了。
The stories gave many Europeans their first look at the life and culture of the people in Asia.
這些故事讓許多歐洲人第一次了解亞洲人民的生活和文化。
Polo told of many amazing things that were unknown to Europe, such as paper money.
馬可·波羅講到的許多神奇的東西在歐洲是聞所未聞的，如：紙幣。
He also wrote about China's development, with its large cities and systems of communication.
他還寫了一篇是關于中國的發展，和她的大城市以及通信系統。
His book made Europeans more and more interested in the East. It also influenced many other explorers, including Christopher Columbus.
他的書讓歐洲人越來越對東方感興趣，這也影響了許多其他的探險家，包括克里斯托弗·哥倫布。
Polo died in 1324. His last words were: “I did not tell half of what I saw.”
1324 年，馬可·波羅臨死前說的最后一句話是：“我看到的，還有一半沒有告訴你們?！?/p>
