正文

神算章鱼继任者"保罗二世"上岗

2010-11-04来源:和谐英语

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.

神算章鱼“保罗”的继任者“保罗二世”本周三在德国闪亮登场，引发众人一阵欢呼。它的前任“保罗”因准确预测世界杯赛果而令世人瞩目。

为纪念在上周逝世的举世闻名的前任，新上岗的章鱼也取名为保罗。它在国家电视台现场直播的仪式中被轻轻地放进水槽中。

相比酷爱出镜的前任，小保罗起初在公众场合亮相还显得很怕生。电视摄像机开机后，它紧紧地贴在水槽的侧壁上。

尽管全世界都对保罗二世充满兴趣，但德国西部奥伯豪森水族馆限制了可以入馆的摄影师人数。

水族馆一位工作人员告诉记者：“我们在法国南部的蒙彼利埃找到了它。”

然而，对于保罗二世能否像保罗一世一样让庄家伤心不已，德国水族馆却没有十足的把握。保罗一世的预测曾让全球赌客高兴了一把。

水族馆女发言人坦尼亚．曼兹格在声明中称：“没人知道保罗能否追随前任的脚步，或者只是章鱼的脚步。”

保罗一世因在最近的南非世界杯赛期间破天荒地连续正确预测了八场赛果而一举成名，包括决赛中西班牙1比0战胜荷兰捧杯。

10月26日，章鱼保罗在睡梦中安然离世，年近3岁。Facebook上它的六万多名粉丝发表了数百条慰问信息，还有人发表了一些不太沉痛的评论。

但5个月左右大的保罗二世不太可能活到2014年，为下届巴西世界杯预测赛果，因为人工饲养章鱼的寿命只有大约3年。

它能否预测2012年乌克兰和波兰联合举办的欧洲杯赛事也还留有悬念。