神奇章鱼预测德国将战胜阿根廷

An octopus 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 opposition 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 demolish Fabio Capello's ageing Premier League stars 4-1, Paul needed just eight seconds to make up his mind.

Saturday's encounter in Cape 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 morsel of food inside.

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

Earlier in the tournament, the eight-legged oracle 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 treacherously but correctly foretold 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%。

Vocabulary:

octopus: a sea creature with a soft round body and eight long tentacles(= long thin parts like arms), that is sometimes used for food 章鱼

spot-on: exactly correct or accurate 完全正确的；准确的

soothsayer: a person who is believed to be able to tell what will happen in the future 占卜者；预言者

adjudge: to make a decision about somebody/something based on the facts that are available 宣判；裁决；判定

tip: to say in advance that somebody/something will be successful 预言……获胜；事先说……会成功

treacherously: 背叛地；靠不住地

throw in the towel: to admit that you have been defeated and stop trying 认输；承认失败；放弃努力