Marco Polo was a boy of seventeen. Once， his father and uncle had just returned to their family in Venice after a long journey. They talked about strange and beautiful lands in the East. They brought back gold and jewels.

Soon， the Polo brothers asked him to take a trip with them to the East. So it was how Marco Polo's journey be- gan. During three years of traveling to the Far East， he saw sights that were almost unbelievable to a boy. He met people who had strange ways of living. Some spoke languages that he did not understand. At last they reached China. This was in the year 1275. The emperor made a great feast in honor of the Polos and asked Marco to live in his court. Marco Polo learned to read， write and speak new languages.

Onee the emperor sent him to distant western and southern part of his empire. Marco Polo was given many soldiers and servants for his journey.

Marco saw paper made by the Chinese. People in China had also discovered how to print on paper; they had many books and even used paper money! They burned little black rocks for heat later called coal.

After three years， he wrote a book about his travels， which most people in Europe did not believe. But many years later the world knew that this man had discovered a great Eastern country.

馬可波羅十七歲的時(shí)候，有一次，他爸爸和叔叔長(zhǎng)途旅行后，回到威尼斯。他們向家人講述了在東方那片神奇美麗的土地上的見聞，還帶回了黃金和珠寶首飾。

不久，波羅弟兄們央求父親也帶他們?nèi)|方看看，馬可波羅就這樣開始了他的東方之旅。他們用了三年的時(shí)間才抵達(dá)遠(yuǎn)東。旅途所見幾乎令人難以置信，他目睹了當(dāng)?shù)厝似娈惖纳罘绞?，聽到了很多陌生的語(yǔ)言。最終于1275年來到了中國(guó)。中國(guó)的皇帝盛宴款待波羅一家，并讓馬可住在皇宮里。馬可波羅學(xué)會(huì)了新的語(yǔ)言，學(xué)會(huì)了讀書、寫字。

有一次，皇帝派馬可波羅去中國(guó)遙遠(yuǎn)的西部和南部考察，還派了很多士兵和隨從和他一同前往。

馬可波羅在中國(guó)看到了中國(guó)人的造紙文化，還看到中國(guó)人已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了如何用紙印刷，他們印了很多書，甚至還用上了紙幣。中國(guó)人燒一種黑色的小石塊取暖，后來這種巖石被稱作煤。

三年后，馬可波羅根據(jù)他的旅行經(jīng)歷寫了一本書。很多歐洲人看后，并不相信他的話，但多年之后，世界終于認(rèn)可馬可波羅確實(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個(gè)偉大的東方之國(guó)。