◎周虹汶
A beach that was swept away more than 30 years ago from a remote island off the west coast of Ireland has reappeared after thousands of tons of sand were deposited on top of the rocky coastline.
逾30年前從愛爾蘭西岸外一座離島被沖走的一處海灘，在數千噸沙子沉積於岩岸上後，在原地重現。
 |
| photo:indiatoday |
The 300 meter beach near the tiny village of Dooagh on Achill Island vanished in 1984 when storms stripped it of its sand, leaving nothing more than a series of rock pools.
這處300公尺海灘鄰近阿基爾島上的小村多阿福，消失於1984年，在風浪帶走它的沙以後，徒留一連串岩池。
But after high spring tides last month, locals found that the Atlantic Ocean had returned the sand.
但上月滿潮後，當地人發現，大西洋讓沙灘歸位了。
"It’s enormously significant," Sean Molloy of Achill’s tourism office told the Irish Times newspaper, recalling how the popular beach once sustained four hotels and a number of guesthouses on the west coast of the island of 2,600 people.
阿基爾觀光局的尚恩．莫洛伊告訴「愛爾蘭時報」：「這意義非凡」，回憶起這座有著2600人的島嶼西岸上，該處受歡迎的海灘一度撐起4家旅館和多間民宿。
The island, the largest off the coast of Ireland, forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way, a tourist trail stretching from the south of the country to the north-west that has benefited from a tourist boom in the European Union’s fastest-growing economy. (Reuters)
阿基爾島是愛爾蘭外海最大島嶼，構成該國南部延伸到西北的旅遊路線「野性大西洋之路」一部分，該路線受惠於愛爾蘭是歐洲聯盟經濟成長最快的國家，遊客絡繹不絕。（路透）