Marco Polo

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 described 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 the 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."

Grammar

A Adverbial clauses of result

B too ... to

C enough to