国外媒体:神奇章鱼预测德国将战胜阿根廷

An octopus¹ in Germany called Paul who has shot to stardom for his spot-on World Cup predictions forecast on Tuesday a quarter-final win by Germany over Argentina.

But in view perhaps of the tougher opposition² that Diego Maradona's side will pose Germany on Saturday than England did last Sunday, the eight-legged soccer soothsayer took more than an hour to decide.

Ahead of the England game, which saw Germany's young guns demolish³ Fabio Capello's ageing Premier⁵ League stars 4-1, Paul needed just eight seconds to make up his mind.

Saturday's encounter in Cape⁴ Town, therefore, might go to extra time -- or even penalties.

Two plastic boxes, one with a German flag and one with their opponent's, are lowered into Paul's tank at Sea Life in Oberhausen in western Germany, each with a tasty morsel⁶ of food inside.

The box which Paul opens first is adjudged to be his predicted winner.

Earlier in the tournament, the eight-legged oracle⁷ correctly tipped Germany to beat Ghana and Australia in their Group D matches. And proving he is not just attracted by Germany's flag, he also correctly predicted a loss to Serbia.

Even though he was born in England, he also treacherously⁸ but correctly foretold⁹ Germany's win over his native country in their last-16 clash on Sunday.

Argentina coach Maradona should not throw in the towel just yet, however, as Paul has been wrong before. For the European Championships in 2008, his success rate was only 80 percent.

德国一只因准确预测世界杯赛果而一举成名的章鱼“保罗”于本周二又做出了新的预测：德国队将在四分之一决赛中打败阿根廷队。

但可能是考虑到相比于上周日的英格兰队而言，德国队本周六的对手、由迪亚哥·马拉多纳率领的阿根廷队更为强劲，所以这位八只脚的足球预言家花了一个多小时才做出决定。

在德国对阵英格兰的比赛前，保罗只花了8秒钟就做出了决定。在这场比赛中，年轻的德国队以4比1大胜由法比奥?卡佩罗率领的拥有众多英超球星、但年龄偏大的英格兰队。

因此，德国和阿根廷本周六在开普敦的对决可能会出现加时赛，甚至可能会以点球定胜负。

保罗的家在德国西部奥伯豪森的一个海洋馆里。海洋馆工作人员将两个塑料盒子放进保罗所在的玻璃缸中，一个盒子上贴着德国国旗，另一个盒子是对手的国旗，每个盒子里装有一小块食物作为诱饵。

保罗先打开哪个盒子，表明那个盒子所代表的国家就将获胜。

在之前的比赛中，保罗曾言中德国队将战胜同在D组的加纳和澳大利亚队。但不要以为这是因为保罗对德国国旗情有独钟，它曾预测德国将输给塞尔维亚，而事实也确实如此。

尽管保罗出生于英国，它却“背叛”了自己的祖国，正确预测出德国队在上周日的八强赛中会战胜英国。

然而，阿根廷队主帅马拉多纳不必因此而认输，因为保罗之前也失手过。在2008年的“欧洲杯”比赛中，它的预测准确率仅为80%。

1 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

4 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

5 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

6 morsel   

n.一口，一点点

参考例句：

• He refused to touch a morsel of the food they had brought.他们拿来的东西他一口也不吃。
• The patient has not had a morsel of food since the morning.从早上起病人一直没有进食。

7 oracle   

n.神谕，神谕处，预言

参考例句：

• In times of difficulty,she pray for an oracle to guide her.在困难的时候，她祈祷神谕来指引她。
• It is a kind of oracle that often foretells things most important.它是一种内生性神谕，常常能预言最重要的事情。

8 treacherously   

背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地

参考例句：

• The mountain road treacherously. 山路蜿蜒曲折。
• But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me. 他们却如亚当背约，在境内向我行事诡诈。

9 foretold   

v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She foretold that the man would die soon. 她预言那人快要死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold. 这样注定：他，为了信守一个盟誓／就非得拿牺牲一个喜悦作代价。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学