In the heart of old Lisbon, there’s a “hospital” that treats patients who are small and fragile, often mangled and battered, and sometimes more than 100 years old.
This rare facility mends the cracked head, broken limb or missing eye of many a child’s favourite toy: Their doll.
The loving care given at Lisbon’s doll hospital has been going on for five generations.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
“We have clients from all over the world and all ages. There are museums which ask us to restore pieces, also private collectors, but the vast majority of our clients are individuals: People who are sentimentally attached” to their dolls, says Manuela Cutileiro, 72, the hospital’s owner.
The dolls all have a patient file and are painstakingly restored by the skilled hands of three women “surgeons,” who give them a new body part or hair, chosen from drawers full of pieces of dolls, a macabre collection of heads, limbs and eyes.
The establishment, known as Hospital de Bonecas, was founded in 1830.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
Some 4,000 dolls can be found inside. There are 100-year-old dolls with porcelain heads, along with dolls dressed in costumes from different regions of Portugal, as well as some modern Barbies.
“For us a contemporary doll is 20 or 30 years old. The old ones are those which are already centenarians,” says Cutileiro.
(AFP)
在里斯本舊城區的中心有一間醫院，治療的病患都相當嬌小脆弱，通常受過毒打，渾身是傷，有些還超過一百歲。
這間稀有的醫院專門修理被敲破的頭、扯斷的手腳、還有瞎眼等等，而他們的病患正是孩童最愛的玩偶。
這間奉獻給玩偶的醫院在里斯本已經傳承五個世代。
玩偶醫院的老闆是七十二歲的瑪努拉‧庫迪萊若。她說：「我們的客戶遍及全球，而且什麼年紀都有，有博物館，還有私人收藏家，不過最多的還是珍惜玩偶的一般人。」
每個娃娃都有病歷表。醫院有三位女「醫師」，總是全力以赴地拯救破損的玩偶，替它們更換身體部位或頭髮。醫院內有一個看上去頗為陰森，裝滿頭顱、手腳、眼珠的櫃子，醫生在需要時便從抽屜中取出對應的零件。
這間稱作「玩偶醫院」的店舖是在一八三○年成立。
店內約有四千具玩偶，包括幾個百年陶瓷洋娃娃、穿著各式葡萄牙地方傳統服飾的玩偶、還有一些現代的芭比娃娃。
庫迪萊若說：「二十幾、三十幾年的玩偶對我們來說都算是『當代』的。百年的玩偶才是老玩偶。」
（台北時報涂宇安譯）
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A: What types of fruit enzymes should we take to help reduce eye floaters? B: According to a study published in the “Applied Sciences” journal by Taiwanese ophthalmologist Horng Chi-ting, pineapple, papaya and fig supplements can improve symptoms. A: Pineapples are in season now, so you should munch on more of those to get rid of floaters. B: Not quite. Enzymes can be damaged by our stomach acid if we eat the fruit directly. The doctor says taking fruit enzyme capsules is better for absorption. A: Most importantly, we should reduce our use of personal electronics to prevent floaters from
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