“西紅柿大戰”染紅西班牙小鎮

Tens of thousands of people from around the world hurled tonnes of ripe tomatoes at each other Wednesday in an annual food fight that leaves the eastern Spanish town of Bunol covered in red pulp.

More than 40,000 people, including many visitors from Australia, Britain and the United States, took part this year in the food fight known as the "Tomatina", now in its 64th year, a spokeswoman for Bunol's town hall said.

They were provided with over 100 tonnes of tomatoes by the town council for the battle which lasted about one hour and left participants covered in pulp and standing ankle-deep in red mush.

Many men were shirtless while others wore old clothes, hard hats, goggles or protective plastic sheets.

Shopkeepers put up huge plastic covers on their store fronts or boarded them up to protect their properties from the sea of red mush.

After a battle, municipal workers and local residents used giant hoses to clear the walls and streets of the tomato pulp in just half an hour while the participants headed to a nearby river where temporary showers were set up.

The event cost the town of some 10,000 residents 28,000 euros (40,000 dollars) to stage, Spanish media reported.

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上演，來自世界各地的數萬人互相扔擲熟透的番茄，把小鎮變成了一片紅色的海洋。

“西紅柿大戰”至今已舉行了64屆，布諾爾市政廳的女發言人說，共有4萬多人蔘加了今年的活動，其中包括許多來自澳大利亞、英國和美國的遊客。

市政廳共提供了100多噸番茄供人們扔砸，整個活動持續了約一個小時，參與大戰的人渾身糊滿了番茄漿，而且都站在深及腳踝的番茄泥中。

很多男性赤膊上陣，其他一些人則穿着舊衣服，戴着頭盔、眼罩或披着塑料防護布。

店主們都在自家店面前掛上了大幅塑料罩布，或是用木板擋住店面，以免這場紅色戰爭殃及店內貨品。

活動結束後，市政工人和當地居民用巨型水管沖洗沾滿了西紅柿漿汁的牆壁和街道，整個過程僅用了半個小時；而參與番茄大戰的人們則前往附近的一條河進行沖洗，那裏搭建了臨時的淋浴噴頭。

西班牙媒體報道說，布諾爾小鎮爲籌辦這一活動共耗資2.8萬歐元（合4萬美元）。該小鎮共有約1萬個居民。

“西紅柿大戰”於每年八月的最後一個星期三在布諾爾舉行。布諾爾小鎮地處一個富饒的地區，距意大利第三大城市、重要港口瓦倫西亞北部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，因此西紅柿大戰的規模也越來越大。

Vocabulary:

board up: 用木板阻斷