中国取消大熊猫预测世界杯计划

China has only made it to one World Cup, in 2002, but there was some hope it would contribute to this year's tournament following reports that a group of baby pandas in Sichuan would try to predict the outcome of matches in Brazil.

中国唯一一次进入世界杯决赛圈是在2002年，人们原本希望中国为今年的世界杯做点贡献――此前有报道称，四川的一群大熊猫幼崽将尝试预测巴西世界杯的比赛结果。

Chinese authorities have, however, intervened and scrapped the plan. A spokesman for the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas said the predictions were dropped over fears that the cubs would be overwhelmed by cameras and excited onlookers.

但中国当局进行了干预并最终取消了这项计划。中国大熊猫保护和研究中心(China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas)的发言人称，预测赛事的计划被取消是因为担心中心将挤满摄像机和兴奋的围观者。

'The safety and health of pandas is most important. We won't sacrifice it,' the center spokesman said.

该中心的发言人称，大熊猫的安全和健康是最重要的事情，他们不会牺牲这一点。

It is a harsh blow to the pandas' dreams of doing something useful with their lives beyond the daily grind of eating bamboo and being pressured into having sex. There is no point them filing a complaint at their designated grievance facility, otherwise known as a panda-moan-ium, because the decision appears final.

这对大熊猫是一次沉重的打击。除了每天咀嚼竹子和被迫交配之外，它们原本还能做点有意义的事情。大熊猫无法提起申诉，因为这似乎已经是最后决定了。

The pandas had been expected to predict the outcome of matches by either picking food from bowls marked with the national colors of competing teams, or climbing trees flying certain flags.

大熊猫预测赛事的计划原本是这样设计的：在涂上足球队所属国家国旗颜色的碗中盛上食物，看看熊猫会选择哪个碗中的食物；或者看看熊猫会爬上哪棵树并挥舞某国的国旗。

Paul the Octopus pioneered the grand tradition of animals picking World Cup winners after a dream run of forecasts for the 2010 tournament in South Africa. He also had a good record at Euro 2008. But Paul is dead, and the search for a worthy successor continues.

章鱼保罗曾开启了动物预测世界杯结果的先河，它对2010年南非世界杯的比赛结果进行了预测。它2008年预测欧洲杯的成绩也很出色。但章鱼保罗已经去世了，人们仍在寻找和它一样优秀的继任者。

U.K. tabloid the Sun proudly introduced its World Cup tipster -- Pele the Piranha - last week. The newspaper said its 'Amazonian toothsayer' had correctly forecast the results of England's three World Cup warm-up matches by picking one of three morsels of fish to eat.

上周，英国小报《太阳报》(Sun)骄傲地推出了它的世界杯预测者――水虎鱼佩莱。该报称，佩莱通过从食物中三选一的方式成功预测了英格兰三场世界杯热身赛的结果。

But Pele's World Cup has got off to a poor start, as he predicted England would beat Italy in their opening match.

但佩莱的世界杯预测之旅开局不力，它预计英格兰将在首战对阵意大利的比赛中获胜。

'When offered the three choices for England's opening game against Italy on Saturday, he showed no hesitation and munched the Cross of St George grub,' the Sun said.

《太阳报》称，在预测周六英格兰对阵意大利的三种比赛结果时，它毫不犹豫地大嚼代表英格兰队将取胜的食物。

Italy won 2-1.

但最终意大利以2比1战胜了英格兰队。