高中三年级英语(人教版)全一册 Unit 2 Integrating Skills 2

　　Tasman sailed past Australia without seeing the continent, but discovered Tasmania and the west coast of New Zealand, which he thought was part of the southern continent. Around this time, the other European nations lost their interest in the search for "the unknown southern land" and concentrated on the Asian continent instead. For some time there were no voyages o/f discovery to the region.

　　The French were very active in the eighteenth century. One of the French sea captains reported that he had seen very short people. What he needed was a new pair of glasses, because what he had seen were not people but penguins. Another Frenchman reported that he had discovered paradise, but he was hanged for telling lies when he came back home. As late as 1767 an English scientist published a survey of all discoveries in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean up till then. He was positive about the existence of a large unknown continent, and believed its northern coast to be lying somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Based on this report the English government decided to ask Captain Cook to go and look for this continent.