Marco Polo y su viaje: Historia, cultura y contexto medieval

MODELO 2008

The Travels of Marco Polo

The Travels of Marco Polo was a book conceived in a prison cell in Genoa (Italy) in 1298. A

QUESTIONS

1.

Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE.

• a) Marco Polo wrote his book during his famous journey to the East.
  FALSE: The Travels of Marco Polo was a book conceived in a prison cell in Genoa (Italy) in 1298.
• b) Experts have proved that all the information included in Polo's book was invented.
  FALSE: […] much of what Polo wrote, regarded with suspicion in medieval times, was confirmed by travellers of the 18th and 19th centuries, and most of the detail has since been corroborated by historians and geographers.

(Puntuación máxima 2 puntos)

2.

In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions.

• a) Describe life in the Middle Ages for Europeans.
  European people in Middle Ages suffered of corrupt politicians, epidemic illnesses, such as the Black Death, wars and hunger, besides living without any kind of hygiene.
• b) Why was Marco Polo's attitude to different cultures important?
  Because his attitude was a very good example of understanding cultures and customs so different from the ones he had at that moment, and of living among other races and respecting them all.

(Puntuación máxima 2 puntos)

3.

Find the words in the text that mean:

• a) description (paragraph 1) account
• b) terrible (paragraph 2) grim
• c) foreign (paragraph 3) alien
• d) common (paragraph 3) prevalent

(Puntuación máxima: 1 punto)

4.

Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets when given.

• a) Marco Polo, who was born in Venice, went to China with his father and uncle when he was seventeen years old.
• b) While the West was governed (govern) by corrupt leaders in the Middle Ages, a wise emperor ruled (rule) the East.
• c) Marco Polo's book dealt with a world whose products were highly valued in the West.

Rewrite the following in reported speech.

• d) Marco Polo said, "I have only told half of what I saw!" Marco Polo said… he had only told half of what he had seen.

5.

Write about 100 to 150 words on one of the following topics.

• a) If you could choose a historical period to live in, which one would you choose and why?

First, I want to say that the era in which we live is the best of all, though there are wars, but it is the most modern and updated. We have phones and computers; before, people did not have such technological facilities.

But if I have to choose another, I would choose the "old age".

At that time, people believed in many gods and also performed pagan rituals.

I love that time because of a computer game called "Age of Mythology". You can try different gods and different ages of the world. The old age is the best, because it contains a mystical halo.

At that age people had to find food to survive, unlike now, when we can buy it.

In conclusion, I like the era in which we live, but I would not mind being born before, to experience other ways of life and cultures.

• b) Are travel books popular with modern readers? Give reasons for your answer.

As an introduction, I would like to say that travel books are no longer the main instrument for a family trip. I think that today's mobile phones, together with the internet, have replaced the paper guide.

Some time ago they were very important, as they indicated the museums and restaurants, but now you have the same information with a call or a look at the GPS.

I remember that when I was little my parents had travel guides for their vacations and I used to read them. They were very boring. Now electronic guides are more interesting.

In conclusion, I believe that these guides have lost popularity because of the increase in other devices such as phones, GPS, iPads, laptops, etc. Publishers should modernize and increase their capital.

But this does not mean they are not necessary; it is always good to have one at hand.