’Psychic’ octopus picks Gillard as election winner「通靈」章魚選吉拉德為勝選者

 ◎ 魏國金
An Australian newspaper has taken a leaf out of the football World Cup play book, unveiling its own "psychic" octopus that it says has predicted Prime Minister Julia Gillard will win next month’s poll.
一家澳洲報紙向世界盃足球賽看齊，公開它自己的「通靈」章魚，說 牠預測總理茱莉亞．吉拉德將贏得下月的選舉。
The Sydney Morning Herald showed off "Cassandra" just as Gillard told the Australian people that they would go to national elections on August 21.
正當吉拉德告訴澳洲人民，大選將在8月21日舉行之際，雪 梨晨驅報亮出「卡珊卓拉」。
The paper hopes Cassandra will rival the predictive powers of "Paul", a German octopus that called a string of results including the World Cup winner.
該報希望卡珊卓拉能與「保羅」的預測威力匹敵，德國章魚保羅正確預測出一 連串的比賽結果，包括世界盃的冠軍。
"Cassandra’s preference for Julia Gillard was clear," the newspaper said. "Despite being a solitary animal, she wrapped her long arms around the Prime Minister," it said.
「卡珊卓拉對吉 拉德的偏愛是顯而易見的，」該報說，「儘管是獨行動物，但是牠的長臂纏繞著總理，」報導指出。
Marine science expert Professor Rob Harcourt however warned that as octopuses have "episodic personalities", Cassandra could change her eight-tentacled vote at any time. "On any given day, an octopus may be bold in all situations and then shy and timid the next day," he told the paper.
然而海洋科學專家哈廓特教授 警告說，由於章魚具「不連貫個性」，卡珊卓拉可能隨時改變她的八腳式投票。「在任何一天，一隻章魚可能在所有情況中表現大膽，但第二天就害羞膽小，」他告 訴該報。
新聞辭典
take a leaf out of sb. book︰片語，以某人為榜樣，效法某人。例句︰You ought to take a leaf out of your brother’s book, he was never late.（你應該學學你兄弟，他從不遲到。）
rival︰動詞，比得上， 與…匹敵。例句︰No one can rival her in eloquence.（在口才方面沒人比得上她。）
call︰動詞，正 確預測到。例句︰He has an awesome reputation for calling stock market turns.（他因擅於預測股市的漲跌而極負盛名。）