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Octopus Paul II is pictured at the Sea Life Centre in the western German city of Oberhausen, November 2, 2010.(Agencies) |
Octopus Paul II, successor to the tentacled tipster that wowed the world with his uncanny knack of correctly predicting World Cup football games, was unveiled amid great fanfare Wednesday in Germany. The new cephalopod, also named Paul in honour of his world-famous predecessor who passed away last week, was lowered gently into his tank in a ceremony carried live on national television. Paul the younger initially appeared more publicity-shy than his media-hungry forerunner, sticking closely to the side walls of the tank as the TV cameras rolled. The aquarium in Oberhausen, western Germany, limited the number of photographers allowed into the room, amid hefty interest from around the world. "We got him from near Montpellier" in southern France, an aquarium employee told the reporters. However, the German aquarium was keen to downplay the possibility that Paul II will inflict the same pain to bookmakers as Paul I did, to the joy of punters around the world. "No one yet knows whether Paul will be able to follow in his footsteps, or rather, his tentacle steps," aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig said in a statement. Paul I shot to fame by defying the odds to predict eight successive games during the recent World Cup in South Africa, including Spain's 1-0 triumph against the Netherlands in the final. He died peacefully in his sleep aged nearly three on October 26, sparking hundreds of messages of condolence from his 60,000-strong Facebook fan club and some less serious comments. It is unlikely, however, that around five-month-old Paul II will live to give predictions for the next World Cup in 2014 in Brazil, given that the life expectancy of octopuses in captivity is around three years. Whether he will make the next European championship, in Ukraine and Poland in 2012, is also far from being a safe bet. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
神算章魚(yú)“保羅”的繼任者“保羅二世”本周三在德國(guó)閃亮登場(chǎng),引發(fā)眾人一陣歡呼。它的前任“保羅”因準(zhǔn)確預(yù)測(cè)世界杯賽果而令世人矚目。 為紀(jì)念在上周逝世的舉世聞名的前任,新上崗的章魚(yú)也取名為保羅。它在國(guó)家電視臺(tái)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)直播的儀式中被輕輕地放進(jìn)水槽中。 相比酷愛(ài)出鏡的前任,小保羅起初在公眾場(chǎng)合亮相還顯得很怕生。電視攝像機(jī)開(kāi)機(jī)后,它緊緊地貼在水槽的側(cè)壁上。 盡管全世界都對(duì)保羅二世充滿興趣,但德國(guó)西部奧伯豪森水族館限制了可以入館的攝影師人數(shù)。 水族館一位工作人員告訴記者:“我們?cè)诜▏?guó)南部的蒙彼利埃找到了它?!?/p> 然而,對(duì)于保羅二世能否像保羅一世一樣讓莊家傷心不已,德國(guó)水族館卻沒(méi)有十足的把握。保羅一世的預(yù)測(cè)曾讓全球賭客高興了一把。 水族館女發(fā)言人坦尼亞?曼茲格在聲明中稱:“沒(méi)人知道保羅能否追隨前任的腳步,或者只是章魚(yú)的腳步。” 保羅一世因在最近的南非世界杯賽期間破天荒地連續(xù)正確預(yù)測(cè)了八場(chǎng)賽果而一舉成名,包括決賽中西班牙1比0戰(zhàn)勝荷蘭捧杯。 10月26日,章魚(yú)保羅在睡夢(mèng)中安然離世,年近3歲。Facebook上它的六萬(wàn)多名粉絲發(fā)表了數(shù)百條慰問(wèn)信息,還有人發(fā)表了一些不太沉痛的評(píng)論。 但5個(gè)月左右大的保羅二世不太可能活到2014年,為下屆巴西世界杯預(yù)測(cè)賽果,因?yàn)槿斯わ曫B(yǎng)章魚(yú)的壽命只有大約3年。 它能否預(yù)測(cè)2012年烏克蘭和波蘭聯(lián)合舉辦的歐洲杯賽事也還留有懸念。 相關(guān)閱讀 德西大戰(zhàn)在即 “章魚(yú)哥”預(yù)測(cè)西班牙勝 德阿之戰(zhàn)在即 章魚(yú)、海豚上演預(yù)測(cè)大比拼 神奇章魚(yú)預(yù)測(cè)德國(guó)將戰(zhàn)勝阿根廷 (中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 實(shí)習(xí)生秦華江 編輯:Julie) |
Vocabulary: tentacled: 有觸角的,有觸手的 tipster: a person who sells tips on horse racing, the stock market, etc(提供情報(bào)的人,內(nèi)線) punter: 賭客,客戶 safe bet: something in which confidence may be placed about a future outcome(萬(wàn)無(wú)一失,很可能發(fā)生的事) |