Title:World Cup oracle cat predicts Russian team’s victory in FIFA World Cup opening match

ST. PETERSBURG, June 13. /TASS/. Achilles the cat, a resident of Russia's State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and an official oracle of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, has predicted the Russian national team will be the winner of the opening match of the FIFA World Cup, TASS reported on Wednesday.

据国际足联星期三报道，彼得堡和2017年联合会杯官方承诺，俄罗斯国家队将成为国际足联世界杯开赛的赢家。

Russia will play against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, June 14. At a ceremony to make his predictions by choosing between two bowls of cat food, Achilles chose that with the Russian flag, however not without hesitation.

俄罗斯将于6月14日星期四对决沙特阿拉伯。

Achilles, a snow-white tom cat from the Hermitage Museum launched his oracle carrier during the FIFA Confederations Cup last year. Museum's staff said he had been chosen from among the other cats for his ability to choose, analyze and for his unusual behavior.

去年FIFA联合会杯期间，来自赫尔密歇郡博物馆的一只白雪猫阿奇斯发起了他的神谕载体。博物馆工作人员说，他被选自其他猫，因为他有选择、分析和不同寻常行为的能力。

Last year, the Hermitage cat was right about the outcomes of three out of four 2017 Confederations Cup matches played in St. Petersburg, including the opening and final matches.

去年，赫尔米塔基猫在圣彼得堡举行的2017年四届联合会杯足球赛的结果是正确的，包括开幕式和最后比赛结果。

Throughout the year, Achilles has been preparing for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, taking part in public events, training to shed weight and get more fit, as well as to be more definite in the forecasts without paying attention to camera flashes and the presence of unfamiliar people. Achilles is deaf as many white cats are, yet this impairment does not sidetrack the feline and lets him better concentrate on his predictions.

在这一年里，阿奇里斯一直在为2018年国际足联世界杯做准备，参加了公共活动、减轻体重的培训和更加健康，同时在预测中更确切些。阿基里斯聋了，虽然许多白猫，但是这种障碍并没有回避猫咪，使他能够更好地专注于他的预言。

In the remaining days before the championship kicks off, Achilles has been daily training at the Hermitage Museum, where the prediction sessions will take place during the Russia-hosted World Cup.

在锦标赛开始前几天，阿基里斯每天都在赫尔米塔奇博物馆接受培训，在俄罗斯主办的世界杯期间举行预测会。

The FIFA World Cup, the first-ever hosted by Russia, will be held between June 14 and July 15, 2018, in 11 Russian cities - Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi and Rostov-on-Don.

由俄罗斯主办的第一届国际足联世界杯将于2018年6月14日至7月15日在圣莫斯科的11个俄罗斯城市举行。

St. Petersburg will host seven matches - Morocco vs. Iran on June 15, Russia vs. Egypt on June 19, Brazil vs. Costa Rica on June 22. Argentina will play against Nigeria on June 26. Two play-off games and a match for the third place will also take place in St. Petersburg.

圣彼得堡将主办七场比赛——6月15日是摩洛哥对伊朗，6月19日是俄罗斯对埃及，6月22日是巴西对哥斯达黎加，6月26日阿根廷将对尼日利亚比赛。圣彼得堡还将举行两场比赛及第三场比赛。

The cats have been living in the Hermitage, originally a tsar's palace, since the 18th century after Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, the founder of the city, issued an order to bring mice-catching cats from the city of Kazan, famous for its rat hunters at that time.

自从18世纪后爱丽莎白女王、大教堂创始人彼得的女儿彼得发布命令把捉老鼠的猫从卡赞城带回来，这些猫就一直生活在“沙皇宫”（Hermitage）里。

Now, from 50 to 70 rat-catching cats roam the Hermitage's basement and they also appear on the neighboring embankment and square. Their population is regulated to avoid territorial disputes. In the recent years, the cats of the Hermitage have become a popular tourist brand in the city.

现在，在50至70只老鼠捕鼠猫在赫尔米塔的地下室漫步，它们也出现在邻近堤坝和方面，它们的人口受到监管以避免地域争端。

The city has even established a special holiday - Day of the Hermitage Cat. Apart from that, it offers a tourist trail, Cats of St. Petersburg. In 2015, the British press put the Hermitage Museum cats on the list of the world's most unusual tourist attractions.

这座城市甚至设立了一个特别的「义猫节」（Hermitage Cat），除此以外，该城市还提供一条旅游小道，即圣彼得堡的猫。2015年，英国媒体将爱玛蒂奇博物馆的猫列入了世界上最不同寻常旅游景点的名单。