神奇章鱼预测：德国将打败阿根廷

An octopus¹ 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.

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。

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But in view perhaps of the tougher opposition³ that Diego Maradona's side will pose Germany on Saturday than England did last Sunday, the eight-legged soccer soothsayer（算命者） took more than an hour to decide.

Ahead of the England game, which saw Germany's young guns demolish⁴（破坏，粉碎） Fabio Capello's ageing Premier⁶ League stars 4-1, Paul needed just eight seconds to make up his mind.

Saturday's encounter in Cape⁵ Town, therefore, might go to extra time -- or even penalties（点球，处罚） .

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 morsel⁷（一口，少量） of food inside.

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

Earlier in the tournament, the eight-legged oracle⁸（预言，圣人） 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 treacherously⁹（背叛地，危险地） but correctly foretold¹⁰ Germany's win over his native country in their last-16 clash on Sunday.

Argentina coach Maradona should not throw in the towel（认输） just yet, however, as Paul has been wrong before. For the European Championships in 2008, his success rate was only 80 percent.