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Sorcery in Papua New Guinea: When the hurlyburly's done
巴布亞新幾內亞的巫術：當喧囂歸于沉寂
The gruesome consequences of accusations of “witches” craft.
被指控“女巫”后的恐怖命運。
It Began, as it usually does, with an unexpected death: in this case, of Jenny's husband, an esteemed village leader in the province of Eastern Highlands, in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
正如以往，一次意外死亡是這場悲劇的開始：死者是珍妮的丈夫，他是巴布亞新幾內亞東部高地省一位受人尊敬的村長。
Some local boys accused Jenny of having cast a spell to kill him.
當地一些男孩指控珍妮對她的丈夫施了魔法，置他于死地。
She says they began beating her over the head with large branches.
珍妮說，這些男孩用粗樹枝抽打她的頭部。
Her family supported her accusers.
而這些指控者得到了她家人的支持。
She fled into the surrounding fields, eventually making her way to the provincial capital of Goroka, where she has lived for the past three years.
珍妮逃進周圍的田野里，最后在省會城市戈羅卡呆了三年。
“I can never go back to my village,” she says, “and I never want to see my family again.”
“我再也不回村子去了，”她說，“我也再不想見到家人。”
Jenny was lucky: she escaped.
珍妮很幸運：她幸免于難死。
Every year, hundreds of suspected witches and sorcerers are killed in PNG.
每一年，巴布亞新幾內亞有上百上千的人因被懷疑是女巫或者巫師而被殺。
Accusers often enlist the aid of a “glass man” (or “glass Mary” ) : a diviner whom they pay to confirm their accusations.
這些人被“帶上女巫、男巫的帽子”：他們付錢給這些占卜者來證明實自己的指控。
Most of the victims are poor, vulnerable women including widows like Jenny.
受害者絕大多數是像珍妮這樣孤苦無依的女人。
“If you have a lot of strong sons,” says Charlotte Kakebeeke of Oxfam, a charity, “you won't be accused.”
慈善機構Oxfam的Charlotte Kakebeeke說，“如果你有一大群壯實的兒子，沒人敢來指控你?！?/div>
When the accused try to take shelter with relatives, their families often reject them: the supposed witches' husbands have paid their families a “bride price” which would have to be returned if the bride left the husband's family.
當被指控為巫師的人者嘗試投靠親戚向親人求助時，經常會被拒絕：所謂的女巫的丈夫們已經給了女方她們家里一筆賄賂金“嫁妝”，如果女方新娘離開夫家，這筆嫁妝就得還回去。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
