德阿之战在即 章鱼,海豚上演预测大比拼
It takes a brave creature to disagree with Paul, Germany's soothsaying octopus, who has an impeccable track record on World Cup predictions to date.
But step (or swim) forward Sayco, the dolphin from the Argentine port city of Mar del Plata.
Sayco's keepers at the city aquarium decided on Thursday to see if the friendly creature preferred to play with a ball in German red-black-gold or Argentine sky blue and white.
Leaping four metres out of the water, Sayco unhesitatingly went for the Argentine ball placed on a platform above his pool.
Locals immediately saw a positive omen, with Argentina set to face Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals in Cape Town on Sunday.
Even so, Sayco does not have the track record of Paul, an eight-legged oracle in the Germany city of Oberhausen, who has shot to stardom for his spot-on predictions and who has forecast a German win.
Paul needed just eight seconds to make up his mind about the Germans' chances against England -- even though he was born in England -- and earlier in the tournament he correctly tipped wins over Ghana and Australia.
Not only that, he proved he is not just attracted by Germany's flag by correctly predicting a loss to Serbia in the group phase.
德国的神算章鱼“保罗”对本届世界杯的赛果预测至今未出差错，看来谁要想向它发起挑战还需要点勇气。
但来自阿根廷海港城市马德普拉塔的一只名叫“萨克”的海豚就自告奋勇地站了出来。
本周四，马德普拉塔市水族馆的饲养员们准备了两个球，一个球上贴着德国的红黑金三色国旗，另一只球贴着阿根廷的蓝白相间国旗，然后看性情友好的萨克更喜欢玩哪个球。
当时，萨克跳出水面四米，然后毫不犹豫地顶起了置于水池上方平台上的贴有阿根廷国旗的球。
萨克的这一举动让当地的人们看到了好兆头。阿根廷队将于本周日在开普敦举行的世界杯四分之一决赛中迎战德国队。
但即便如此，萨克并没有“保罗”那样的“辉煌”战绩。家在德国奥伯豪森市的“八爪神鱼”保罗因准确预测世界杯比赛赛果而一举成名。据“保罗”预测，德国将在四分之一决赛中击败阿根廷。
虽然出生于英国，但在预测英格兰对阵德国的那场比赛时，保罗仅用8秒钟就做出了德国将取胜的预测。在之前的比赛中，它还准确预测出德国会战胜加纳和澳大利亚队。
但不要以为保罗屡次预测德国取胜是因为它喜欢德国国旗，它曾准确预测出德国在小组赛中会输给塞尔维亚。
Vocabulary:
soothsay：to foretell events; predict（占卜，预言）
step forward: make oneself visible; take action（自告奋勇，主动站出来）
omen：prophetic significance; presage（预兆，征兆）
oracle：神谕，神示；能提供宝贵信息的人权威，智囊
spot-on：exactly correct or accurate（准确的）
