西班牙小镇举办番茄大战 一小时砸掉160吨番茄

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.

在学校里投掷食物会让你放学后留校。但是在一个西班牙小镇的街道上，这却是一种庆祝方式。

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.

八月的最后一个周三可能是世界上最乱的节日之一了--番茄节。在巴伦西亚附近的布尼奥尔城中心，超过4.5万人在这一天在一小时之内相互投出了160吨番茄。

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.

每年的番茄节都会引发浪费食物的争论，特别是在西班牙经济已经不如过去辉煌的今天。

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.

但是这个寂静的小城镇已经学会了在蜂拥而至的游客身上捞一把：节日的门票起步价99镑一张，并且还在往上涨；当地的旅馆和商店也获利颇丰。

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.

事实上，因为这座小城通过举办番茄节而推动了经济发展，其他城市也纷纷效仿，办起了各种奇怪的节日--比如在西班牙北部小城哈罗举办的"葡萄酒湿身节"。

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、哥伦比亚、韩国和印度的城市也都有番茄节，这些城市与布尼奥尔合作，帮助推广这个最先举办番茄节的地方。

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

更棒的是，布尼奥尔利用描写番茄大战的电影广告挣钱。

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，布尼奥尔将"番茄节"注册成了商标，所以当三星这样的大公司用"番茄节"做广告是，就必须要向布尼奥尔支付广告费。

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

除了版权以及旅馆费用，一部描写番茄大战的电影可以为这里带来33.5万美元的收入。

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.

没有人确切地知道这个传统是怎么开始的。据地方志记载，第一次庆祝番茄节是在1945年，可能是由撞翻了一个小贩的摊子引发的。

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

也可能是由一个音乐家的恶作剧或者对市议会的抗议引发的。

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

不管它的起源是什么，小镇上的人们还挺享受互相扔番茄的，每年番茄收获季结束的时候他们都会这么干。

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·佛朗哥独裁时期，这项活动被禁止，因为没有什么宗教意义。但是在20世纪70年代中期又复活了，到了80年代市议会接管之后，则变得更加专业。

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

在番茄大战结束之后，消防车会冲洗满是番茄的街道--据说番茄的酸性可以给鹅卵石彻底消毒。