国外媒体:西班牙小镇上演"西红柿大战"（在线收听）

Revellers get red-faced in mushy Spanish tomato fest

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。