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Marco Polo
马可·波罗
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，有一个旅行者的小雕像，他的名字叫马可·波罗。
Marco Polo grew up in the city of Venice, in present day Italy.
马可·波罗在威尼斯城长大，在现今的意大利。
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，当他 17 岁的时候，他跟随他的父亲和叔叔开始了他的亚洲旅程，并且在长达 24 年中一直没有回家。
His travels took him across Asia, along the Silk Road and throughout China.
他的旅程横穿亚洲，沿着丝绸之路，游遍整个中国。
He loved Hangzhou so much that he described it as “the finest city in the world”.
他很喜欢杭州，以至于他将其形容为“世界上最好的城市”。
When Polo finally returned to Venice, there was a war and he was captured.
当马可·波罗最终回到威尼斯时，当时有一场战争，他被抓获了。
While he was in prison, he told the stories of his travels to another man there.
他在监狱里时，他把他的旅行故事告诉了另一个人。
This man wrote the stories down in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.
这个人把这些故事写成了一本书，取名叫《马可·波罗游记》。
Because of the interesting descriptions of Asian life in the book, Polo's travels soon became well known in Europe.
因为书中对亚洲生活的精彩描述，很快马可·波罗的旅游在欧洲被众所周知了。
The stories gave many Europeans their first look at the life and culture of the people in Asia.
这些故事让许多欧洲人第一次了解亚洲人民的生活和文化。
Polo told of many amazing things that were unknown to Europe, such as paper money.
马可·波罗讲到的许多神奇的东西在欧洲是闻所未闻的，如：纸币。
He also wrote about China's development, with its large cities and systems of communication.
他还写了一篇是关于中国的发展，和她的大城市以及通信系统。
His book made Europeans more and more interested in the East. It also influenced many other explorers, including Christopher Columbus.
他的书让欧洲人越来越对东方感兴趣，这也影响了许多其他的探险家，包括克里斯托弗·哥伦布。
Polo died in 1324. His last words were: “I did not tell half of what I saw.”
1324 年，马可·波罗临死前说的最后一句话是：“我看到的，还有一半没有告诉你们。”
