1 The most famous traveller of all 1
2 Early years in Venice 5
3 Niccolo and Maffeo Polo 7
4 The Mongol Empire 11
5 The Silk Road 14
6 Marco leaves Venice 18
7 From Hormuz to Khanbaliq 22
8 At the court of the Khan 25
9 Working for the Khan 29
10 Going home 33
11 The travellers return 36
12 After Marco Polo 39
GLOSSARY 42
ACTIVITIES: Before Reading 44
ACTIVITIES: While Reading 45
ACTIVITIES: After Reading 49
TRANSLATION 参考译文 52
內容試閱:
From the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Silk Road went for thousands of kilometres to China in the east. Travellers went from one great city to another, crossing wide deserts and high mountains. Their horses and camels carried gold, silver, glass, spices, and of course, silk.
At the age of seventeen, Marco Polo left Venice to travel along the Silk Road to China with his father and uncle. He was just a young man learning the family business. Perhaps he was excited about the journey, and the wonderful things that he would see. He did not know that he would not return for more than twenty years and that one day, he would be the greatest traveller of his time.
东起中国,西至地中海,丝绸之路绵延千里。路上的旅人们穿过一片片广袤的沙漠,翻越一座座巍峨的山峰,从一个大城市去往另一个大城市。他们的马和骆驼载着黄金、白银、玻璃、香料,当然还有丝绸。
马可波罗17岁时,跟随父亲和叔父离开威尼斯,沿丝绸之路去往中国。当时他还只是一个学做家族生意的小伙子。他也许期待着旅行和即将看到的美好事物,却并不知道自己会离别家乡20余载,也不知道有一天自己会成为那个时代最伟大的旅行家。