評(píng)論
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In Europe, people paid for goods with gold or silver.
在歐洲，人們用黃金或白銀買東西。
He could not understand how people could pay for food and valuable things with paper!
他不明白，人們?nèi)绾文苡眉堎I食物和貴重的東西！
He was also confused by the black stones people used to burn for fuel.
人們作為燃料點(diǎn)燃的黑色石頭，也令他很迷惑。
The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!
黑色石頭是煤，但馬可以前從未見過！
In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy.
1291年，在朝中任職17年后，馬可回到意大利。
He was now a very wealthy man. Not long after his return, a local war broke out near his town.
他現(xiàn)在是一個(gè)非常富有的人。他回國后不久，一場(chǎng)區(qū)域戰(zhàn)爭在他家鄉(xiāng)附近爆發(fā)了。
During the war, Marco was the captain of a warship but was caught by the enemy and put into prison.
戰(zhàn)爭中，馬可是一只軍艦的首領(lǐng)，但被敵人俘獲關(guān)進(jìn)了監(jiān)獄。
However, Marco was lucky enough to meet another prisoner who enjoyed listening to his stories about China.
然而，馬可很幸運(yùn)，他遇見另一名很愛聽他講中國的故事的囚犯。
The prisoner was an author and he took dictation while Marco told all his stories to him.
這名囚犯是一名作家，馬可給他講故事的時(shí)候，他記下了馬可的口述。
The prisoner then wrote the stories in a book called The Description of the World,
后來，這名囚犯把故事寫進(jìn)一本叫《馬可·波羅游記》的書，
which became one of the best-selling books in Europe.
這本書成為歐洲最暢銷的一本書。
Although people enjoyed reading his book,
雖然人們愛讀他的書，
many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true.
但許多人認(rèn)為馬可有關(guān)中國的故事太離奇而不可信。
But Marco always stood by his tales.
但馬可總是堅(jiān)持他所講的故事是真的。
Just before he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, "Was it all true?",
他70歲快去世之前，有人問馬可，"那都是真的嗎？"，
to which he replied, "I have only told half of what I saw!"
他回答，"我僅僅說了我看見的一半！"
