66 Discovering the Kangaroo

It was 1770. James Cook explored Australia. His ship was tied in New South Wales. A strange animal hopped by. It had a long tail. It had big feet. It had a pouch. The animal was a kangaroo. The kangaroo is the best-known animal in Australia. It is found only in Australia. It is a marsupial. A marsupial is an animal that carries its young in a pouch.

Captain Cook looked at the kangaroo. He had never seen such an animal. He did not understand it. He asked the natives. They spoke a strange language. The natives said, “Kangaroo.” Captain Cook wrote the word in his book. The word sounded English. It was not English. It was the native language. Now the word is used all over the world. It is used in English. It is used in other languages. The name stuck. No change is planned.

時間是 1770 年，詹姆斯·庫克探索澳洲。他的船停泊在新南威爾士，一隻奇怪的動物跳過來。它有長尾巴、大腳和育兒袋。這種動物是袋鼠，袋鼠是澳洲最著名的動物，只在澳洲出現。它是有袋類動物，有袋類動物會將幼崽放在育兒袋中。

庫克船長看著袋鼠，他從未見過這種動物，也不理解它。他詢問當地原住民，原住民說了一個奇怪的詞：「Kangaroo」。庫克船長將這個詞寫進筆記本。這個詞聽起來像英文，但不是英文，而是原住民語。如今，這個詞在全世界使用，英文和其他語言都採用這個名稱，這個名字沿用至今，沒有改變。