[常春藤網路書城]2011常春藤生活英語雜誌02月號-02-09-Island of the Dolls 墨西哥鬼娃之島

Island of the Dolls 墨西哥鬼娃之島

　　　How would you feel if you came across an abandoned island with thousands of ragged dolls and doll parts nailed to trees everywhere? The Island of the Dolls is a strange place started by Don Julián Santana. This man lived all by himself without electricity and many of the conveniences of modern life. Even though Santana passed away in 2001, his family maintains the island with donations from curious people wanting to take pictures of the dolls.
　如果您偶然發現一座荒廢小島，島上有上千隻破舊娃娃及娃娃的身體部位被人釘在各處的樹上，這時您會作何感覺？鬼娃之島這個詭異的地方是由唐‧朱力安‧桑塔那一手打造出來的。這名男子在此獨自隱居，還過著既沒電力也缺乏現代生活中許多便利設施的生活。雖然桑塔那於2001年去世，但他的家人仍透過想為這些娃娃拍照的好奇民眾所捐贈的金錢來維護島上的一切。
Many people thought Santana was a lunatic, but his family tells a different story. They say that Santana believed the island was haunted by a little girl that drowned in one of the canals nearby. He told his relatives that her spirit was restless, so he fished dolls out of the canals and local trash bins and then nailed them up on trees all around the island. It was said that he did this to protect himself from evil as well as make the spirit of the young girl happy. Starting with only one doll, Santana soon transformed the Island of the Dolls into a doll-covered shrine, not to mention a creepy tourist attraction.
許多人都覺得桑塔那是個瘋子，但是他的家人卻有一套不同的說法。他們說桑塔那相信一個在附近運河裡溺死的小女孩一直在這座島上陰魂不散。他跟他的親戚說女孩的靈魂無法安息，所以他會從運河中和當地的垃圾桶裡撈出娃娃，然後把它們釘在島上各處的樹上。據說他這麼做是為了要保護自己免受邪靈侵害，同時也能讓小女孩的靈魂得到寬慰。桑塔那從僅有一隻娃娃開始，不但很快就將整座鬼娃島變成一座佈滿娃娃的聖地，更別提還將這裡改造成一個令人毛骨悚然的觀光景點。