中国网站品牌栏目（频道）
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Two year-old octopus Paul, the so-called "octopus oracle" predicts Spain's victory in their 2010 World Cup semi-final soccer match against Germany by choosing a mussel, from a glass box decorated with the Spanish national flag instead of a glass box with the German flag, at the Sea Life Aquarium in the western German city of Oberhausen July 6, 2010. [Photo/Agencies] |
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Soccer fans across Germany will be hoping a "psychic" cephalopod's fabled skills of prophecy have failed him after Paul the octopus predicted a German loss in their World Cup semi-final with Spain. With a 100 percent record so far, the British-born aquarium dweller at Sea Life in Oberhausen, western Germany has become a celebrity having correctly predicted a series of German wins and even Germany's surprise group stage loss to Serbia. On Tuesday, Paul once again was given the choice of picking food from two different plastic containers lowered into his tank -- one decorated with a Spanish flag and one with a German flag. The container which Paul opens first is seen as his pick. He settled on both containers at first in a sign of hesitation before opening the box with the Spanish flag. The decision was broadcast live on several news channels in Germany, although commentators immediately cast doubt over the prediction by Paul, who was born in Weymouth, England. While Paul has been faultless at the World Cup so far, he is not infallible - at Euro 2008 he incorrectly picked Germany as the victor against Spain. (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) (Agencies) |
德国章鱼“保罗”日前又做出预测，德国队将在世界杯半决赛中被西班牙队击败，想必德国的球迷一定希望这只“神算”章鱼这次最好能失算。 这只出生于英国、现居德国西部奥伯豪森一家海洋馆的章鱼因毫无偏差地预测出世界杯赛果而一举成名，它不仅正确预测出德国队的一系列胜局，甚至连德国队在小组赛中意外输给塞尔维亚队的那场比赛也被其言中。 本周二，海洋馆的工作人员将两个分别贴有西班牙国旗和德国国旗的盛有食物的塑料容器放进保罗所在的水箱中，让其做出选择。 保罗先打开哪个盒子，就意味着它认为哪支球队将取胜。 保罗先是犹豫了一下，在两个盒子之间徘徊，之后打开了贴有西班牙国旗的那个盒子。 保罗做决定的过程被德国多家新闻频道直播，但一些评论员们随即对保罗的预测表示了怀疑。保罗出生于英格兰的威茅斯。 尽管保罗对本届世界杯赛果的预测至今从未失手，但它也并非万无一失。在2008年的欧洲杯决赛中，它做出了德国将战胜西班牙的错误预测。 相关阅读 （中国日报网英语点津 Julie 编辑蔡姗姗） |
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Vocabulary: psychic：outside of natural or scientific knowledge; spiritual（有特异功能的，通灵的） cast doubt：表示怀疑 infallible：absolutely trustworthy or sure（没有错误的，确实可靠的） |
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