英语知识70（1/1）

Early years in Venice

Nisolo and Natico lo Mrcia f rber nd uncd ayVenice. They were important traders who bought and soldgoods from different places around the world.

At this time, Venice was a rich city which traded withcountries near the Mediterranean Sea and also faraway placesin Africa and Asia. Big ships arrived daily, full of goodslike silk, spices, and jewels. And sailors speaking differentlanguages often walked the streets of the city.

In 1253 Niccolo and Maffeo left Venice and went on along journey to Constantinople (now Istanbul) to trade.While the brothers were away, Niccolo's son Marco was born.People say that his mother died while Marco was still a babyand he went to live with other people in his family.

Niccolo and Maffeo were away for many years. It was notunusual for merchants to trade in other countries and notorge home for a long time. Travel was often very dangerousand some merchants never made the long journcy back totheir families.

We do not know a lot about Marco when he was a child.Who was his mother? Did he have any brothers or sisters?Nobody really knows. But we can imagine that he had a veryorgfortable early life. We know that he learnt to read andMarco Polo was not the first European to go to Chingbut he was the first person to write about daily life there. Htold Europeans about new things such as paper moncy andgunpowder. He also wrote a wonderful description of theMongol people who ruled over many countries at this time.Marco Polo was the first person to describe the longjourney to the East on the famous Silk Road. We sometimeshear about this route today - tourists who are looking for an