“保罗二世”在德国闪亮登场

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.

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。

Octopus Paul II is pictured at the Sea Life Centre in the western German city of Oberhausen, November 2, 2010.

The new cephalopod（头足类动物） , also named Paul in honour of his world-famous predecessor（前任，前辈） 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（水族馆） 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（造成，给予） 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（触手，触须） 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（章鱼） 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.