中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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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) |
德國章魚“保羅”日前又做出預測，德國隊將在世界杯半決賽中被西班牙隊擊敗，想必德國的球迷一定希望這只“神算”章魚這次最好能失算。 這只出生于英國、現居德國西部奧伯豪森一家海洋館的章魚因毫無偏差地預測出世界杯賽果而一舉成名，它不僅正確預測出德國隊的一系列勝局，甚至連德國隊在小組賽中意外輸給塞爾維亞隊的那場比賽也被其言中。 本周二，海洋館的工作人員將兩個分別貼有西班牙國旗和德國國旗的盛有食物的塑料容器放進保羅所在的水箱中，讓其做出選擇。 保羅先打開哪個盒子，就意味著它認為哪支球隊將取勝。 保羅先是猶豫了一下，在兩個盒子之間徘徊，之后打開了貼有西班牙國旗的那個盒子。 保羅做決定的過程被德國多家新聞頻道直播，但一些評論員們隨即對保羅的預測表示了懷疑。保羅出生于英格蘭的威茅斯。 盡管保羅對本屆世界杯賽果的預測至今從未失手，但它也并非萬無一失。在2008年的歐洲杯決賽中，它做出了德國將戰勝西班牙的錯誤預測。 相關閱讀 （中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯蔡姍姍） |
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Vocabulary: psychic：outside of natural or scientific knowledge; spiritual（有特異功能的，通靈的） cast doubt：表示懷疑 infallible：absolutely trustworthy or sure（沒有錯誤的，確實可靠的） |
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