【时事聚焦】章鱼“保罗”，全名保罗·爱伦，2008年出生于英国的多塞特，持英国护照，现生活于德国的奥博豪森海洋馆，世界著名先知，伟大的动物预言家，最爱食物为贻贝。保罗在刚结束不久的南非世界杯期间走红全球，7次“预言”德国队赛绩，全部猜中，最后又成功预测了西班牙1：0战胜荷兰夺得世界杯冠军，100%的预测准确率使其成为眼下最负盛名的足球“神算子”的同时，也给他带来了不少“死亡威胁”。详见以下原版新闻：
Paul: The "psychic" octopus
Paul, the "psychic" octopus, finished the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ with a flawless record as Spain's 1-0 win over the Netherlands in Sunday's final left him with eight perfect predictions.
The eight-legged oracle has become a FIFA World Cup sensation by correctly forecasting all seven Germany games in South Africa and he finished the tournament in style by predicting a Spanish victory in the Soccer City sign-off. No one knows how he does it, but for a while it made him the most popular invertebrate in Germany, stealing headlines even from the coalition government.
As Paul foretold last week, Spain won their first world title after Andres Iniesta's 116th-minute strike broke the Netherlands' hearts. The tentacled tipster also correctly predicted Germany would beat Uruguay in Saturday's third place play-off.
In the now familiar routine, two boxes were lowered into his tank last week, each containing a mussel and the flags of the two opposing teams. Paul went straight to the correct box both times, wrenched open the lid and gobbled the tasty morsel.
But the art of football predicting has become a dangerous job for the English-born clairvoyant. He fell offside with bitter German fans who threatened to turn him into sushi after he predicted a semi-final defeat for the Mannschaft against Spain.
Paul's home, an aquarium in western Germany, has received death-threat emails saying "we want Paul for the pan," said entertainment supervisor Daniel Fey. No less an authority than Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero has called for octopus bodyguards. Spanish Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian has called for the creature to be given an "immediate" free transfer to Spain to "ensure his protection."
Stung by Paul's "treachery" at picking Spain over Germany in last Wednesday's semi-final, some sections of the 350,000-strong crowd watching the game on giant screens in Berlin sang anti-octopus songs.
His prediction of a Spanish victory is expected to be the last for Paul, who in octopus terms is a pensioner, at the grand old age of two-and-a-half. Octopuses generally live three years at the latest.
【热点话题】章鱼保罗的出现让全世界奇也罢、叹也罢、喜也罢、恨也罢，各位“烤鸭”可是要多留个心眼，因为在雅思听力的Section2和Section4部分，经常会考到介绍动物或者植物的语段（动物居多些），尤其是在Section4的学术类讲座中，动物更是经久不衰的话题之一。
单在剑桥雅思考试真题系列中出现的介绍动物的篇目就有：剑6-Test4-Section4: Asiatic lions；剑4-Test4-Section4: Sharks in Australia；剑3-Test3-Section4: Ostrich。如果大家每次收集和整理的雅思听力考题回顾后就会发现，动物话题的出现频率是很高的。
在动物话题中，常见的考查内容有：
通识性介绍
讲述某动物的身体结构与生活习性，比如数量（number），身长（length）或身高（height），体重（weight），骨骼（skeleton），皮肤（skin），毛皮（fur），血液（blood）、大脑（brain），活动范围（territory），迁徙模式（migration pattern），食物（food），速度（speed），栖息地（habitat），生长阶段（growth stage），进化（evolution）等。
专项性介绍
介绍某动物的一个具体特点及其对于人类的启示，比如蜜蜂的视力（bee’s optic）、鲸鱼和海豚的集体搁浅现象（the stranding of whales and dolphins）等。
比较性介绍
比较的内容有一种动物的优、缺点比较；几种相似动物的优、缺点或特点比较；动物与人类的比较。
实验性介绍
为了更好地了解动物，人们通常会在不伤害他们的前提下对其开展实验研究，比如在某种鸟类的腿部固定身份识别环（put leg identification）以便跟踪研究。
【背景常识】保罗神奇的预测能力一直为人们所津津乐道，其命运也牵动着世界各国球迷的心。据奥博豪森水族馆宣布，随着本届世界杯的结束，保罗即将光荣退休。退休后的章鱼，将做它最喜欢做的事，取悦来拜访它的小朋友们。摘掉预言家的光环，躲开聚光灯的追捧，做回一条普通的章鱼，自由自在地度过余生也许就是保罗最希望的吧。那么什么才是一条“普通的章鱼”，它到底是一种什么样的生物呢？让我们一起来了解一下：
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusk in the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms. Most octopuses have no internal or external skeleton, allowing them to squeeze through tight places. Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates.
The octopus inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. For defense against predators, they hide, flee quickly, expel ink, or use color-changing camouflage. An octopus trails its eight arms behind it as it swims. All octopuses are venomous, but only the small blue-ringed octopuses are deadly to humans.
In the larger sense, there are around 300 recognized octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of known cephalopod species. The term octopus may also be used to refer only to those creatures in the genus Octopus.
【必杀词汇】分析认为，一旦雅思听力考到有关动物的话题，以下词汇极有可能落入出题者的考察范围之内（考虑到动物场景常见section 4，因此有些词汇会略显专业）：
mollusk 软体动物
symmetric 对称的，均匀的
beak 鸟喙，（鸟喙形的）某种嘴
internal 内部的，体内的
external 外部的，体外的
skeleton 骨骼
intelligent 有才智的
region 范围，区域
inhabit 居住于，栖息于
camouflage 伪装，掩饰
coral reef 珊瑚礁
predator 捕食者
species 物种
creature 生物，（尤指）动物