国外媒体:西班牙小镇上演"西红柿大战"

Revellers get red-faced in mushy Spanish tomato fest

Tens of thousands of revellers from around the world pelted¹ 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 pulp².

The town council brought in some 100 tonnes of ripe tomatoes on trucks for the estimated 40,000 tourists who descended³ 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 goggles⁴.

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 coastal⁵ 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 coverage⁶ brought more and more people to the festival.

一年一度的“西红柿大战”于本周三在西班牙东部小镇布诺尔举行，当天，来自世界各地的数万名狂欢者互相扔掷熟透的番茄。被扔砸的番茄达好几吨。

这场不流血的战争持续一小时，把整个小镇变成了一片红色的海洋。

布诺尔镇政厅用卡车运送了约100吨熟透的西红柿。布诺尔小镇仅有九千个居民，“西红柿大战”每年在此地举行一次，至今已举办了60多届，今年共有约4万名游客来参加。

参加西红柿大战的很多人赤裸着上身，有的人穿着旧衣服、戴着头盔或护目镜。

活动结束后，市政工人用水冲洗粘满了西红柿浆汁的街道和墙面。

据西班牙媒体报道称，今年活动所用的西红柿耗资约2.8万欧元（3.5万美元），相当于整个活动7万欧元总预算的三分之一，这些预算的大部分主要用于安保、清洗服务、流动厕所和群众防护等方面。

为防止发生事故，活动现场安排了100多名警察和120名民防志愿者。

“西红柿大战”于每年八月的最后一个星期三在布诺尔小镇举行。布诺尔地处一个富饶的地区，距离西班牙第三大城市、重要港口瓦伦西亚北部约40公里（25英里）。

西红柿大战的起源至今尚不清楚，但传说是起源于上世纪40年代中期当地孩童之间用食物互相扔掷打闹的习俗。

由于国际媒体的报道，越来越多的人前来参加这一狂欢节，“西红柿大战”的规模也越来越大。

1 pelted   

（连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮

参考例句：

• The children pelted him with snowballs. 孩子们向他投掷雪球。
• The rain pelted down. 天下着大雨。

2 pulp   

n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆

参考例句：

• The pulp of this watermelon is too spongy.这西瓜瓤儿太肉了。
• The company manufactures pulp and paper products.这个公司制造纸浆和纸产品。

3 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

4 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。