Page 33 - Reading Success B8

The sight was breathtaking for a young man barely in his twenties. There before
him was a city more majestic than any he had ever seen before that he considered
that it might lead an inhabitant to imagine himself in paradise. There were
landscaped highways, public parks, marinas, and canals with hundreds of arched

bridges many of them so high that vessels with masts could pass beneath. There
were underground drainage systems, police and fire brigades, and a postal service.
All of this was quite staggering, especially for a youth who lived 700 years ago.
His name was Marco Polo, one of history’s great travelers. His father had already

traveled to China before, and keeping his promise to the Emperor, returned once
again, bringing with him this time the young Marco. Of China, Marco Polo wrote of
the wondrous sights and strange people he encountered. He was amazed by the
“veins of black stones [coal] which, when lighted, burn like charcoal and give out a
considerable heat.” He describes crocodiles as “huge serpents ten paces in length
with jaws wide enough to swallow a man” and coconuts “the size of man’s head,
pleasant to taste and white as milk.”

The Chinese emperor was so impressed with his young guest that he took him
on hunting trips on royal elephants and gave him the run of his opulent marble
palaces and summer resorts. Marco was dazzled by the gilded carving, art
treasures, and the elegant courtiers of the Emperor’s world. As such, Marco was

the first Western man to describe China and its bordering countries, the first to
outline a route across the Asian continent, and the first Westerner to see the Pacific
Ocean. While Marco amassed a fortune himself by working for the Emperor, he
eventually returned to his home city of Venice.

After his return, the city clashed with its rival in trade, Genoa. Unfortunately,
Marco was captured and thrown into a Genoese jail. There, he used his time wisely
and he dictated his memoirs to a fellow prisoner. When the volume of his travels
across Asia, A Description of the World, was first published, it was denounced as a
pack of lies. Even on his deathbed, a priest urged him to retract some of his
tallest tales , and it is said that with his last breath, Marco Polo replied, “I have not
told half of what I saw.”

Main Idea

What is the main idea of this story?

a. what China was like 700 years ago
b. Marco Polo’s life

c. famous explorers
d. the difference between the western and eastern world

36_Reading Success B 8