Reference Translation of Exercise 5 (movie caption - Marco Polo)

Marco Polo wrote about his travels while he was in prison
馬可波羅的遊記是在監獄裡寫的，
That obviously is going to affect the way he presents his information.
這當然會影響到他撰寫這本遊記的方式。
He’s at a different time in his life and he wants to attract an audience
為了不想被處死，他決定寫本遊記來吸引大眾對他的注意，
So he’s going to emphasize the strangest and the most interesting
所以，他在書中特別描述那些光怪陸離或格外有趣的見聞，
rather the ordinary elements of his travel.
而避開了旅程中平庸無奇的事物。
From his squalid cell in Italy,
在他意大利骯髒的牢房裡，
Marco wrote about the luxurious court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol King,
馬可波羅描述了蒙古大可汗忽必烈的華麗宮殿，
which he supposedly reached in 1275.
據信，他在西元1275年左右曾到過那裡。
He told how in Shengdu, the city later immortalized as Xanadu,
他描述元朝上都的情景，這個夏日都城日後被詩人稱為仙娜度(而永垂不朽)。

Xanadu, also Shangdu or Shang-tu (Chinese: 上都; pinyin: Shàngdū), also known as Kaiping (simplified Chinese: 开平; traditional Chinese: 開平; pinyin: Kāi Píng), was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China, after he decided to move the capital of the Yuan Dynasty to Dadu, present-day Beijing. The city was located in what is now called Inner Mongolia, 275 kilometres (171 mi) north of Beijing, about 28 kilometres (17 mi) northwest of the modern town of Duolun.
Xanadu was visited by Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275; it became fabled as a metaphor for opulence(wealth), most famously in the English Romantic Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan.



Kubla Khan; or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which takes its title from the Mongol and Chinese emperor Kublai Khan of the Yuan Dynasty.
The poem's opening lines are often quoted, and it introduces the name Xanadu (or Shangdu, the summer palace of Kublai Khan):
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
Coleridge claimed that the poem was inspired by an opium-induced dream (implicit in the poem's subtitle A Vision in a Dream) but that the composition was interrupted by a person from Porlock. Some have speculated that the vivid imagery of the poem stems from a waking hallucination albeit, most likely, opium-induced. Additionally a quotation from William Bartram[1] is believed to have been a source of the poem. There is widespread speculation on the poem's meaning, some suggesting the author is merely portraying his vision while others insist on a theme or purpose. Others believe it is a poem stressing the beauty of creation, and some read sexual allusions throughout.
However, it is important to remember that inspiration for this poem also comes from Marco Polo's description of Shangdu and Kublai Khan from his book Il Milione, which was included in Samuel Purchas' Pilgrimage, Vol. XI, 231.


the trial of his 4 year journey suddenly seemed worthwhile.
他四年來的艱苦旅程，在抵達上都後，似乎在瞬間有了價值。
“The Khan’s palace is the largest in the world.
大可汗擁有世界上最大的宮殿，
The roof is ablaze with every color
宮殿的房頂五光十色，
it glitters like crystals and sparkles from afar.
好像一座水晶宮，從遠處望去，宛如繁星閃爍。
The hall is so vast that it could seat 6000 for one banquet.”
宮殿的大廳大到可用來舉辦六千人的盛宴。
The descriptions that Macro Polo provides for us,
馬可波羅在遊記中的描述，
descriptions of Xanadu for example, the summer palace of Kublai Khan
例如對仙娜度的描述，也就是忽必烈大可汗的夏日都城，
dovetail with what we know of the archaeology of that city.
完全吻合我們從考古學中所獲知的上都。
The city was excavated in the 1930’s by the Japanese
這座都城在1930年間被日本人所發掘，
and they found that the placement of the buildings
都城中建築物的位置，
and the style of the buildings
以及建築物的形式，
was exactly the way Macro Polo had described them.
與馬可波羅所描述的完全相同。

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The Venetian trader was equally impressed, it seems,
這位威尼斯商人似乎也對
by the mighty Yangtze rive.
浩瀚的長江(揚子江)印象深刻。
“It is the greatest river in the world.
”長江是世界上最偉大的河流，
More boats loaded with more dear things and of greatest value come and go
載著昂貴珍品的船隻，在江上來回穿梭，
by this river than by all the rivers and seas used by the Christians.”
來往船隻的數量較西方基督教國家在所有河海上的數量還要多。"
Macro could not have asked for more.
這時，馬可波羅應已別無所求，
He had made it safely to China.
他已歷經艱險成功地來到中國，
He had discovered a land of unimaginable wealth.
發現了一片遍地財富不可思議的樂土。
His quest to establish a lucrative trade connection with the east
同時，他企圖在東西方間，建立一條可創造財富的貿易通道，
was very much on course.
此時也隱然成形。