西班牙小鎮上演"西紅柿大戰"
Tens of thousands of revellers from around the world pelted each other with tonnes of tomatoes Wednesday in a mushy festival in the eastern Spanish town of Bunol.
The one-hour bloodless battle, known as the Tomatina, left the town awash in a sea of tomato pulp.
The town council brought in some 100 tonnes of ripe tomatoes on trucks for the estimated 40,000 tourists who descended on the town of just 9,000 inhabitants for the annual festival, which has taken place for More than 60 years.
Many of the participants were shirtless while others wore old clothes, hard hats or goggles.
Afterwards, workers hosed down the walls and streets to remove the tomato pulp.
Spanish media said the tomatoes cost the town council around 28,000 euros (35,000 dollars), about one third of the overall budget of 70,000 euros for the festival, most of which goes to pay for security, cleaning services, mobile toilets and civil protection.
More than 100 police and 120 civil protection volunteers were on hand in case of incidents.
The "Tomatina" is held each year in Bunol, located in a fertile region some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the coastal city of Valencia, Spain's third-largest city, on the last Wednesday in August.
The origins of the event are unclear although it is thought to have its roots in a food fight between childhood friends in the mid-1940s in the city.
It has grown in size as international press coverage brought more and more people to the festival.
一年一度的“西紅柿大戰”於本週三在西班牙東部小鎮布諾爾舉行，當天，來自世界各地的數萬名狂歡者互相扔擲熟透的番茄。被扔砸的番茄達好幾噸。
這場不流血的戰爭持續一小時，把整個小鎮變成了一片紅色的海洋。
布諾爾鎮政廳用卡車運送了約100噸熟透的西紅柿。布諾爾小鎮僅有九千個居民，“西紅柿大戰”每年在此地舉行一次，至今已舉辦了60多屆，今年共有約4萬名遊客來參加。
參加西紅柿大戰的很多人赤裸着上身，有的人穿着舊衣服、戴着頭盔或護目鏡。
活動結束後，市政工人用水沖洗粘滿了西紅柿漿汁的街道和牆面。
據西班牙媒體報道稱，今年活動所用的西紅柿耗資約2.8萬歐元（3.5萬美元），相當於整個活動7萬歐元總預算的三分之一，這些預算的大部分主要用於安保、清洗服務、流動廁所和羣衆防護等方面。
爲防止發生事故，活動現場安排了100多名警察和120名民防志願者。
“西紅柿大戰”於每年八月的最後一個星期三在布諾爾小鎮舉行。布諾爾地處一個富饒的地區，距離西班牙第三大城市、重要港口瓦倫西亞北部約40公里（25英里）。
西紅柿大戰的起源至今尚不清楚，但傳說是起源於上世紀40年代中期當地孩童之間用食物互相扔擲打鬧的習俗。
由於國際媒體的報道，越來越多的人前來參加這一狂歡節，“西紅柿大戰”的規模也越來越大。
Vocabulary:
pelt: throw sth. at（投擲物件以撞擊某人或某物）
hose down:用水管裏的水沖洗
on hand: 在場
