Seeing the World Centuries Ago

　　If you enjoy looking through travel books by such familiar authors as Arthur Frommer or Eugene Fodor，it will not surprise you to lean that travel writing has a long and venerable history. Almost from the earliest annals of recorded time individuals have found ready audiences for their accounts of journeys to strange and exotic locales.1

　　One of the earliest travel writers，a Greek geographer and historian named Strabo，lived around the time of Christ. Though Strabo is known to have traveled from east of the Black Sea west to Italy and as far south as Ethiopia，he also used details gleaned from other writers to extend and enliven his accounts. His multivolumed work Geography provides the only surviving account of the cities，peoples，customs，and geographical peculiarities of the whole known world of his time.

　　Two other classic travel writers，the ltalian Marco Polo and the Moroccan Ibn Battutah，lived in roughly the same time period. Marco Polo traveled to China with his father and uncle in about A.D.1275 and remained there 16 or 17 years，visiting several other countries during his travels. When Marco returned to ltaly he dictated his memoirs，including stories he had heard from others，to a scribe，with the resulting book II milione being an instant success.Though difficult to attest to the accuracy of all he says，Marco's book impelled Europeans to begin their great voyages of exploration. 2

　　lbn Battutah's interest in travel began on his required Muslim joumey to Mecca in 1325，and during his lifetime he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway. 3 His travel book

　　the Rihlah is a personalized account of desert journeys，court intrigues，and even the effect of the Back Death in the various lands he visited . In almost 30 years of traveling it is estimated that Ibn

　　Battutah covered more than 75，000 miles.

　　词汇:

　　venerable / 'ven?r?bl/ adj. 庄严的，值得尊敬的 enliven /in'laiv?n/ v. 使生动

　　account /?'kaunt/ n. 记述 voyage /'v?iid? / n. 航行

　　exotic /ig'z?tik/ v. 异国的，外来的

　　注释:

　　1. Almost from the earliest annals of recorded time individuals have found ready audiences for their accounts of journeys to strange and exotic locales. 几乎从最早有时间记载开始，人们就发现，他们对去一个陌生地方旅行的记录是不乏读者的。

　　2. …Marco's book impelled Europeans to begin their great voyages of exploration.……马可的书促使欧洲人开始了他们伟大的航海探索之旅。

　　3. …he journeyed through all the countries where Islam held sway.……他去了所有伊斯兰教掌权的国家旅行。