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In 1298, a manuscript was published that took Western Europe by storm.
1298年，一本手稿的出版在西欧引起了轰动。
Known today as the Travels of Marco Polo, it detailed the Venetian's adventures in Asia - from India, to Japan, to Sri Lanka.
它就是《马可·波罗游记》，讲述了一位威尼斯人在亚洲的历险经历，从印度到日本，再到斯里兰卡。
Impressive as those tales were, though, it was the figure at the heart of Book Two who really set Europe alight.
尽管这些故事令人印象深刻，但真正点燃欧洲之火的是第二卷的核心人物。
The wise, ancient emperor who ruled a China so wealthy, so enlightened, that it seemed like Heaven on Earth.
一位聪明的古代皇帝，统治着富有、开明的中国，那里就像人间天堂一样。
That great emperor's name was Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty and grandson of Genghis Khan. He would go down as one of the greatest rulers in Asian history.
这位伟大的皇帝叫“忽必烈汗”，是元朝的创始人，成吉思汗的孙子，是亚洲历史上最伟大的统治者之一。
At the time of Marco Polo's visit, Kublai Khan sat at the head of an empire so big, it defies comprehension.
在马可波罗访问时，忽必烈坐在一个大得令人难以想象的帝国的顶端。
A Mongol warrior trained from birth in the art of war, he'd nonetheless grown into an emperor who valued Buddhism, science, and progress above conquest.
作为一名蒙古战士，他从出生起就接受了战争艺术的训练，尽管如此，他还是成长为了一位重视佛教、科学和进步而非喜欢征服的皇帝。
A towering figure in both the Western and Chinese imagination, this is the story of Kublai Khan: the Mongol warrior who became a Chinese emperor.
在西方和中国的眼里，他是一个高高在上的人物，今天我们要讲的就是忽必烈汗的故事：一个成为了中国皇帝的蒙古勇士。
The Great Khan When you hear the name Kublai Khan, we're guessing you also hear the incredibly famous opening of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure dome decree."
当你听到忽必烈这个名字时，你可能会想到塞缪尔·泰勒·柯勒律治的诗歌里的一句著名的开头：忽必列汗在上都曾经下令造一座堂皇的安乐殿堂：”
Aside from being two of the most-famous lines in English, they also perfectly sum up the Western vision of the emperor: a semi-mythical aesthete living a life of unparalleled elegance.
这两句诗除了是著名的英文诗歌外，它们还完美地概括了西方对皇帝的看法：一个半神话般的唯美主义者过着无与伦比的优雅生活。
Which means it can come as a shock to realize Kublai Khan wasn't born in a grand palace and didn't spend his life swanning around in silk pajamas.
这意味着，当你知道忽必烈并不是出生在宏伟的宫殿里，也不是穿着丝绸睡衣到处闲逛时，你可能会非常震惊。
No, when Kublai first opened his eyes on September 23, 1215, the sight that greeted him wasn't the rarefied air of the Chinese imperial court… …but the mud and din and savagery of the Mongol Empire.
是的，当忽必烈于1215年9月23日第一次睁开眼时，迎接他的不是中国宫廷的清新空气……而是蒙古帝国的泥泞、喧嚣和野蛮。
Just nine years earlier, Genghis Khan had united the rowdy, drunk nomadic herders of the Mongolian steppe into a rowdy, drunk army that was nonetheless one of the most-effective fighting units on Earth.
就在忽必烈出生的9年前，成吉思汗把蒙古大草原上那些吵吵嚷嚷、醉醺醺的游牧民族团结成了一支吵吵嚷嚷、醉醺醺的军队，虽说如此，他们仍是地球上最有效的战斗单位之一。
Although the empire's early days had been marked by forward-thinking policies like banning the kidnapping of women, that progressivism had quickly given way to conquest.
尽管帝国的早期以禁止绑架妇女等前瞻性政策为标志，然而这种进步主义很快被征服所取代。
In 1209, Genghis Khan invaded the neighboring Xi Xia Kingdom, beginning the process that would lead to his descendants controlling the largest contiguous empire in history.
1209年，成吉思汗入侵了邻近的西夏王国，这一举措使得他的后代成为了历史上最大帝国的统治者。
By the time Kublai was born in 1215, Genghis had flattened the Xi Xia, crushed the Jin Dynasty, and captured Zhongdu - the city we'd now call Beijing.
到1215年忽必烈出生的时候，成吉思汗已经铲平了西夏，击溃了晋朝，并占领了中都——也就是今天的“北京”。
We mention this because Kublai wasn't just some random kid born to some random Mongol.
为什么要说这个呢？因为忽必烈不是随便哪个蒙古人都能生的孩子。
Kublai's father was Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis Khan. Well, the youngest legitimate son.
忽必烈的父亲是成吉思汗最小的儿子托瑞。嗯，从合法方面讲是最小的儿子。
Given that one in 200 men today are direct descendants of Genghis Khan, we're guessing there were quite a few illegitimate younger sons out there.
考虑到现在每200个男人里就有一个是成吉思汗的直系后代，所以他的私生子肯定不会少了。
Now this didn't mean Kublai grew up bouncing on Genghis Khan's knee as he conquered the world.
虽说是儿子，但忽必烈在成吉思汗征服世界的时候并没有在他的膝盖上跳来跳去地玩耍。
In fact, Kublai barely saw his grandpa or his father. Instead, he was mostly raised by his mother, the Christian princess Sorkhotani Beki.
其实，忽必烈没怎么见过他的爷爷和父亲，而是由他的母亲，基督教的公主Sorkhotani Beki抚养长大。
This meant a somewhat unusual upbringing by Mongol standards.
这很能说明蒙古人的教育标准有些不走寻常路。
For one thing, Sorkhotani was a ferociously intelligent woman, and taught Kublai and his brother Mongke to read at a time when literacy came a distant second to being able to bring down an antelope.
首先，Sorkhotani是一个非常聪明的女人，她在那个读写能力远远落后于杀死一只羚羊的时代教会了忽必烈和他的兄弟蒙克读书写字。
For another, she also made sure to expose her boys to Chinese culture and philosophy.
另一方面，她还让自己的孩子熟悉了中国文化和中国哲学。
The impression this made on Kublai was so great, it would eventually change the course of Asian history.
这一点对忽必烈产生了深远的影响，也使他最终改变了亚洲历史的进程。
Still, Kublai wasn't a pampered little prince.
忽必烈不是一个娇生惯养的小王子。
Before he was 10, he was a formidable horseman, hunter, and fighter - all things the Mongols needed if they were to keep on conquering.
在他10岁之前，他已经是一个令人敬畏的骑手、猎人和战士——这些都是蒙古人征服他国所必需的。
And conquering was by now what the Mongols were all about.
蒙古人的使命就是征服。
When Kublai was just five, the Central Asian Khwarezm Empire made the fatal of insulting Genghis Khan.
在忽必烈5岁的时候，花剌子模王朝因侮辱成吉思汗而到了生死存亡的关头。
By the time Kublai was ten, Khwarezmia had fallen, leaving the Mongols in charge of an empire that stretched from the Sea of Japan to the Caspian Sea - a distance similar to that separating Memphis, Tennessee from Honolulu.
忽必烈10岁的时候，花剌子模已经沦亡，蒙古帝国的疆域从日本海一直延伸到了里海——相当于从孟菲斯、田纳西州到火奴鲁鲁的距离。
Little did young Kublai know it, but that empire was about to fall into his family's hands.
年轻的忽必烈并不知道，这个帝国即将落入他的家族手中。
On August 18, 1227, Genghis Khan died of injuries sustained falling off a horse.
1227年8月18日，成吉思汗因落马伤重而死。
In the aftermath of the great Khan's death, control of the empire briefly passed to Kublai's father, Tolui.
大汗死后，忽必烈的父亲托雷暂时接管了帝国。
It was the family's first brush with immense power. It certainly wouldn't be their last.
这是这个家族第一次与巨大的权力擦肩而过，但肯定不会是最后一次。
