意考古学家：马克波罗可能是个骗子

　　One of history’s greatest explorers, may in fact have been a conman, it was claimed yesterday.

　　昨日有消息称，历史上最伟大的探险家之一可能事实上是个大骗子。

　　Far from being a trader who spent years in China and the Far East, he probably never went further east than the Black Sea, according to a team of archaeologists.

　　据一个考古队称，马可 波罗可能根本不是在中国和远东行走多年的商人，很可能都没到过比黑海更远的地方。

　　They suspect the Venetian adventurer picked up stories about the mysterious lands of the Orient from fellow traders around the Black Sea who related tales of China, Japan and the Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

　　他们怀疑这位威尼斯探险家从一些黑海地区的商人伙伴那里听来了很多关于那片神秘的东方大地的故事。他们向他讲述了很多13世纪中国、日本和蒙古帝国的传说。

　　He then put the stories together in a book commonly called The Travels of Marco Polo, hailed as one of the first travel books; it purportstobe his account of his journeys through Persia, Asia and the Far East between 1271 and 1291.

　　后来他将这些故事集成一本书，也就是为世人所熟知的《马可 波罗游记》，这本书号称是最早的旅游书籍之一，并包含他1271年到1291年间游历波斯、亚洲和远东的记录。

　　It details his relations with Kublai Khan, the Mongol ruler who became Emperor of China.

　　书中详细讲述了他和蒙古统治者忽必烈的交情，忽必烈后来成为了中国的一代帝王。

　　But now an Italian team of archaeologists studying in Japan have cast doubts about one of Italy’s great national heroes -- although there have been competing claims to him from Croatia, which argues he was born there.

　　但如今一个在日本开展研究的意大利考古队对这位意大利民族大英雄产生了质疑。不过关于马克 波罗的国籍，克罗地亚坚称他是克罗地亚人，说他出生在那里。

　　The doubters told Italian history magazine Focus Storiathat there were numerous inconsistencies and inaccuracies in Marco Polo’s description of Kublai Khan’s attempted invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281.

　　怀疑者们告诉意大利历史杂志《聚焦历史》说，马可 波罗关于忽必烈1274年和1281年两次试图入侵日本的描述中，存在诸多不一致和不准确的地方。

　　'He confuses the two, mixing up details about the first expedition with those of the second.

　　“他将忽必烈第一次和第二次远征的细节弄混了。”