By Stuart Buckman

背景：2010年世界杯，一位"明星" 用自己八只灵巧的脚吸引了全世界的眼球，毫无疑问的成为此次世界杯上的一个亮点。章鱼保罗对球赛结果的精准预测使全世界的球迷都感到着迷和困惑。这位海类通灵大师接下来会做些什么呢？

By choosing tasty snacks from boxes with flags on, the psychic octopus correctlypredicted eight matches: all Germany's games and Spain's final victory. For that, he's received a replica World Cup.

But sadly Paul will not gracefuture competitions with his spooky abilities. He's retiring.

The announcement was made at his aquarium in northwest Germany by a spokeswoman, Tanya Munzig:

[Speaking German]

"After four exciting World Cup weeks, Paul finally got a trophy into his aquarium so he wants to thank all his fans worldwide, who followed him. Paul will step back from the official oracle business. He won't give any more oracle predictions, neither in football nor in politics, lifestyle or economy. Paul will get back to his former job, namely, making children laugh."

The world of football however, will be a sadder place.

• victory [´viktəri]   n.胜利，战胜   (初中英语单词)
• politics [´pɔlitiks]   n.政治(学)；政治活动   (初中英语单词)
• economy [i´kɔnəmi]   n.经济；机制；组织   (初中英语单词)
• correctly [kə´rektli]   ad.正确地；恰当地   (高中英语单词)
• announcement [ə´naunsmənt]   n.通告；宣布；言谈   (高中英语单词)
• northwest [,nɔ:θ´west]   n.&ad.西北(部)   (高中英语单词)
• oracle [´ɔrəkl]   n.预言(者)；圣理名言   (高中英语单词)
• namely [´neimli]   ad.即，也就是   (高中英语单词)
• trophy [´trəufi]   n.战利品；奖品   (英语四级单词)