马可波罗 — 揭开东方神秘面纱第一人
    By West Lake,in the city of hangzhou,there is a small statue of a traveller.His name was Marco Polo.

    Marco Polo grew up in the city of Venice,in present-day Italy.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.His travels took him across Asia,along the Silk Road and throughout China.He loved Hangzhou so much that he desribed it as"the finest city in the world".

    When Polo finally returned to Venice,there was a war and he was captured.While he was in prison,he told the stories of his travels to another man there.This man wrote the stories down in a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.Because of the interesting descriptions of Asian life in the book,Polo's travels soon became well known in Europe.

    The stories gave many Europeans their first look at the life and culture of people in Asia.Polo told of many amazing things that were unknown to Europe,such as paper money.He also wrote about China's development,with its large cities and systems of  communication.His book made Europeans more and more interested in the East.It also influenced many other explorers,including Christopher Columbus.

    Polo died in 1324.His last words were: I did not tell half of what I saw."  

    在杭州西湖湖畔，有一座一名旅行者的塑像，他的名字叫马可波罗。
   马可波罗生长在今天意大利的威尼斯，在1271年，当他17岁时，他和他的父亲、叔叔开启了一段到亚洲的旅程。直到24年后才返回去。他的旅程穿过亚洲、沿着丝绸之路游历遍及中国。他热爱杭州，称之为“世界上最美的城市”。
   当马可波罗最终返回威尼斯时，在一场战争中他被抓了，他在监狱里，把他旅行的故事告诉了另一个狱友，这个人把这些故事写进书里，叫《马可波罗游记》，因为书中对亚洲生活的有趣描述，马可波罗游记不久变得闻名欧洲。
   这些故事给欧洲人第一次看到了亚洲人们的生活和文化。马可波罗讲了许多欧洲人未知的诧异的事情，如纸币。他也写了中国的发展：大城市、交流方式。他的书使欧洲人越加对东方的兴趣，也影响了许多别的探索者，包括克里斯托弗·哥伦布。
   马可波罗1324年去世，他最后一句话是：我还没有讲完我看到的下半部分。（本文深圳家教·龙华家教谭老师亲笔翻译并录入）