雅思听力材料之章鱼“保罗”

　　章鱼“保罗”，全名保罗·爱伦，2008年出生于英国的多塞特，持英国护照，现生活于德国，世界著名先知，伟大的动物预言家。保罗在南非世界杯期间走红全球，7次“预言”德国队赛绩，全部猜中，最后又成功预测了西班牙1：0战胜荷兰夺得世界杯冠军，100%的预测准确率使其成为眼下最负盛名的足球“神算子”的同时，也给他带来了不少“死亡威胁”。

　　Paul: The "psychic" octopus

　　Paul, the "psychic" octopus, finished the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a flawless record as Spain's 1-0 win over the Netherlands in Sunday's final left him with eight perfect predictions.

　　The eight-legged oracle has become a FIFA World Cup sensation by correctly forecasting all seven Germany games in South Africa and he finished the tournament in style by predicting a Spanish victory in the Soccer City sign-off. No one knows how he does it, but for a while it made him the most popular invertebrate in Germany, stealing headlines even from the coalition government.

　　As Paul foretold last week, Spain won their first world title after Andres Iniesta's 116th-minute strike broke the Netherlands' hearts. The tentacled tipster also correctly predicted Germany would beat Uruguay in Saturday's third place play-off.

　　In the now familiar routine, two boxes were lowered into his tank last week, each containing a mussel and the flags of the two opposing teams. Paul went straight to the correct box both times, wrenched open the lid and gobbled the tasty morsel.

　　But the art of football predicting has become a dangerous job for the English-born clairvoyant. He fell offside with bitter German fans who threatened to turn him into sushi after he predicted a semi-final defeat for the Mannschaft against Spain.

　　Paul's home, an aquarium in western Germany, has received death-threat emails saying "we want Paul for the pan," said entertainment supervisor Daniel Fey. No less an authority than Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero has called for octopus bodyguards. Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian has called for the creature to be given an "immediate" free transfer to Spain to "ensure his protection."

　　Stung by Paul's "treachery" at picking Spain over Germany in last Wednesday's semi-final, some sections of the 350,000-strong crowd watching the game on giant screens in Berlin sang anti-octopus songs.

　　His prediction of a Spanish victory is expected to be the last for Paul, who in octopus terms is a pensioner, at the grand old age of two-and-a-half. Octopuses generally live three years at the latest.