中國(guó)網(wǎng)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(guó)章魚“保羅”日前又做出預(yù)測(cè)，德國(guó)隊(duì)將在世界杯半決賽中被西班牙隊(duì)擊敗，想必德國(guó)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(guó)、現(xiàn)居德國(guó)西部奧伯豪森一家海洋館的章魚因毫無偏差地預(yù)測(cè)出世界杯賽果而一舉成名，它不僅正確預(yù)測(cè)出德國(guó)隊(duì)的一系列勝局，甚至連德國(guó)隊(duì)在小組賽中意外輸給塞爾維亞隊(duì)的那場(chǎng)比賽也被其言中。 本周二，海洋館的工作人員將兩個(gè)分別貼有西班牙國(guó)旗和德國(guó)國(guó)旗的盛有食物的塑料容器放進(jìn)保羅所在的水箱中，讓其做出選擇。 保羅先打開哪個(gè)盒子，就意味著它認(rèn)為哪支球隊(duì)將取勝。 保羅先是猶豫了一下，在兩個(gè)盒子之間徘徊，之后打開了貼有西班牙國(guó)旗的那個(gè)盒子。 保羅做決定的過程被德國(guó)多家新聞?lì)l道直播，但一些評(píng)論員們隨即對(duì)保羅的預(yù)測(cè)表示了懷疑。保羅出生于英格蘭的威茅斯。 盡管保羅對(duì)本屆世界杯賽果的預(yù)測(cè)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(guó)將戰(zhàn)勝西班牙的錯(cuò)誤預(yù)測(cè)。 相關(guān)閱讀 神奇章魚預(yù)測(cè)德國(guó)將戰(zhàn)勝阿根廷 德阿之戰(zhàn)在即 章魚、海豚上演預(yù)測(cè)大比拼 阿根廷隊(duì)回國(guó)球迷?shī)A道歡迎 鼓勵(lì)老馬留任 德國(guó)雇主協(xié)會(huì)：?jiǎn)T工上班可看世界杯 （中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)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(cuò)誤的，確實(shí)可靠的） |
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