Tomato Festival in Spain西班牙的西红柿节

张超

The Tomato Festival in the small town of Bunol in eastern of Spain happens every year on the last Wednesday in August. The highlight1 of the festival is the tomato fight which takes place between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on that day. Each year， about 30，000 people turn up to take part. In total some 125，000 kilos of tomatoes are squashed2 and thrown. The streets are filled with juice， pavements3 are spattered4 with pulp5. The first Tomato Festival took place in 1945， but no one seems to know exactly how it all started. No matter what the real reason for the first tomato war was， one thing is for sure： participants6 need no excuse to pelt7 each other with squished tomatoes； they do it just for the trick of it.

西班牙東部的小城布尼奥尔市的西红柿节在每年八月的最后一个星期三举行。节日的高潮是当天上午11点至下午1点的西红柿大战。每年有大约3万人参加。总共有125，000公斤的西红柿被砸碎和投掷。街上到处都是番茄汁，人行道上溅满了西红柿果肉。第一届西红柿节于1945年举行，但似乎没有人确切地知道它是如何开始的。不管首次西红柿大战的原因是什么，有一件事是可以确定的：参加者不需要任何借口就可以互相扔压碎的西红柿，他们这么做只是为了做恶作剧而已！

Notes：

1. highlight n. 最精彩部分

2. squashed adj. 压碎的

3. pavement n. 人行道

4. spatter vt. 溅，洒

5. pulp n. 果肉

6. participant n. 参与者

7. pelt vt. 投掷