故宮的一隻「宮貓」白點兒因連續6次成功猜中世界盃賽果，成為了網紅，也贏得了無數網友的喜愛。然而，周一早上卻傳來了白點兒不幸去世的消息……
Baidianr picks the Argentina-flagged food bowl over the Nigeria bowl last week, after which Argentina won its FIFA World Cup match. SCREENSHOT FROM THE PALACE MUSEUM'S SINA WEIBO ACCOUNT
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A stray cat living at Beijing’s Palace Museum died on Monday after becoming an online sensation for making six successful predictions for this year’s World Cup.
成功預測今年世界盃6場比賽賽果的故宮流浪貓成了網紅，然而這隻小貓卻在本周一去世了。
The cat, named Baidianr, which literally means "white spot", quickly won the hearts of tens of thousands of netizens after it made its first guess for the opening game on June 14.
6月14日，這隻名叫「白點兒」的貓咪預測了世界盃開幕賽的賽果，它很快便獲得了成千上萬網友的喜愛。
Before each game, staff members at the museum would put two bowls of cat food in front of Baidianr, each with the national flag of the competing countries, to see which bowl Baidianr would go for. The chosen bowl was the cat’s predicted winner.
每場比賽開始前，故宮的工作人員都會將兩碗貓糧擺在白點兒面前，碗上分別插有比賽球隊的國旗，看看它會選擇哪一碗。白點兒所選中的碗便對應著它預測的獲勝者。
Baidianr made its first successful guess by picking Russia in the opening game. It was rewarded for its accuracy with dried baby fish. It then failed a few times, after which the official Sina Weibo account of the Palace Museum posted pictures of Baidianr hiding its face behind its paws in shame.
白點兒首次成功預測了俄羅斯在開幕賽中勝出的賽果，還被獎勵了小魚乾。但後面的幾次預測都失敗了，故宮的新浪微博官方帳號還發了幾張白點兒羞愧地將小臉藏在爪子後面的照片。
The pictures soon generated huge attention online. Each Baidianr-related post would attract thousands of comments and reposts, whether the cat’s prediction was right or not.
這些照片很快在網上引發了極大的關注。不論預測正確與否，每一條和白點兒相關的微博都會有數千條評論和轉發。
When Baidianr made its sixth consecutive successful guess on June 26 - picking Argentina over Nigeria - more than 8,000 netizens left comments saying they had prepared the best quality cat food and snacks as a reward.
6月26日，白點兒連續第六次猜中獲勝者，這次它預測了阿根廷將戰勝奈及利亞，此時8000多位網友留下評論，表示要準備最好的貓糧和零食作為獎勵。
The next day, however, the museum reported that the cat had fallen seriously ill and was sent to hospital. It said on last Wednesday afternoon that the cat’s hind legs had become suddenly paralyzed and it began breathing heavily and meowed in pain.
然而，第二天，故宮博物院卻表示白點兒病重，已被送往寵物醫院救治。據稱，上周三下午，白點兒的後腿突然癱瘓，呼吸急促，並痛苦呻吟。
The museum opened a special Sina Weibo account under the cat’s name to update the cat’s treatment progress and health condition, drawing more than 21,000 followers.
故宮博物院為白點兒開了個特殊的微博帳號，用於更新其治療進展和健康狀況，該帳號目前已有超過2.1萬粉絲關注。
Sadly, on Monday at around 8 am, the account announced that Baidianr had died. "Sorry," it said.
遺憾的是，周一上午8點左右，該帳號宣布白點兒去世了。「對不起，」該帳號發文道。
Thousands of comments were posted to bid the cat farewell. Meanwhile, a second cat, named Changtuir (long leg), is filling in. It has correctly chosen the winning bowl two consecutive times.
網友留下了數千條評論和白點兒道別。與此同時，第二隻貓「長腿兒」接棒繼續進行預測。它已經連續兩次成功選中勝者。
文中圖片來源：北京青年報官方微博，故宮白點兒官方微博
以上內容英文部分來自中國日報網
本文英文音頻由我報外籍編輯Dale Fox朗讀
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