西班牙小鎮舉辦番茄大戰 一小時砸掉160噸番茄

A food fight in school would send you straight to detention. But on the streets of at least one Spanish town, it's cause for celebration.

在學校裏投擲食物會讓你放學後留校。但是在一個西班牙小鎮的街道上，這卻是一種慶祝方式。

The last Wednesday in August is one of the messiest holidays in the world: la tomatina. In the center of Bunol, a small town near Valencia, more than 45,000 people let loose on each other with 160 tons of fresh tomatoes in an hour-long festival of mayhem.

八月的最後一個週三可能是世界上最亂的節日之一了--番茄節。在巴倫西亞附近的布尼奧爾城中心，超過4.5萬人在這一天在一小時之內相互投出了160噸番茄。

And every year la tomatina unleashes a fresh bout of hand-wringing over the waste of good food, especially now that Spain's economic boom years are a thing of the past.

每年的番茄節都會引發浪費食物的爭論，特別是在西班牙經濟已經不如過去輝煌的今天。

But the sleepy hamlet has learned to milk the tourist influx: Tour operators sell a host of packages with tickets to the festival starting at 99 pounds and rising, and hotels and local businesses also profit.

但是這個寂靜的小城鎮已經學會了在蜂擁而至的遊客身上撈一把：節日的門票起步價99鎊一張，並且還在往上漲；當地的旅館和商店也獲利頗豐。

In fact, the town gets such an economic boost from its association with la tomatina that other cities are emulating the idea with their own quirky regional festivals, like a "wine fight" in the northern Spanish town of Haro.

事實上，因爲這座小城通過舉辦番茄節而推動了經濟發展，其他城市也紛紛效仿，辦起了各種奇怪的節日--比如在西班牙北部小城哈羅舉辦的"葡萄酒溼身節"。

Cities in Chile, Colombia, South Korea, and India have also held tomato festivals, often in cooperation with Bunol, helping increase publicity for the original.

智利、哥倫比亞、韓國和印度的城市也都有番茄節，這些城市與布尼奧爾合作，幫助推廣這個最先舉辦番茄節的地方。

Even better, Bunol makes money off of advertisements for films that feature the tomato fight.

更棒的是，布尼奧爾利用描寫番茄大戰的電影廣告掙錢。

Back in 2002 the city registered the festival as a brand, so when companies like Samsung use la tomatina for their advertisements, they pay for the privilege.

2002年，布尼奧爾將"番茄節"註冊成了商標，所以當三星這樣的大公司用"番茄節"做廣告是，就必須要向布尼奧爾支付廣告費。

Between rights and hotel fees, a Tomatina film shoot can generate around $335,000 for the town.

除了版權以及旅館費用，一部描寫番茄大戰的電影可以爲這裏帶來33.5萬美元的收入。

No one is quite sure how the tradition began. Local lore has it that the festival was first inspired in 1945, perhaps when a street fight collided with a grocer's stall.

沒有人確切地知道這個傳統是怎麼開始的。據地方誌記載，第一次慶祝番茄節是在1945年，可能是由撞翻了一個小販的攤子引發的。

It also may have started as a practical joke on a musician, or a protest against city council.

也可能是由一個音樂家的惡作劇或者對市議會的抗議引發的。

Whatever its origin, the townspeople enjoyed throwing tomatoes so much, they began to do it every year at the end of tomato season.

不管它的起源是什麼，小鎮上的人們還挺享受互相扔番茄的，每年番茄收穫季結束的時候他們都會這麼幹。

The festival was eventually banned under Francisco Franco's rule because it had no religious significance, but it was reinstated after his death in the mid-1970s and the ad-hoc gathering became increasingly professionalized in 1980s, with the city council taking over.

在弗朗西斯科·佛朗哥獨裁時期，這項活動被禁止，因爲沒有什麼宗教意義。但是在20世紀70年代中期又復活了，到了80年代市議會接管之後，則變得更加專業。

After the festival ends, fire trucks spray down the pulp-covered streets–the acidity of the tomatoes is said to thoroughly disinfect the cobblestones.

在番茄大戰結束之後，消防車會沖洗滿是番茄的街道--據說番茄的酸性可以給鵝卵石徹底消毒。