新奇事件簿 番茄大战收门票

Spain's economic woes¹ have led to one of its most famous festivals becoming a "pay-to-join" event. The cash-strapped town of Bunol will start charging participants who want to take part in its world-famous Tomatina tomato-throwing festival. Tourists will have to pay a minimum of 10 euros ($13) to be part of the hour-long tomato fight. Regardless, all 15,000 tickets have been sold. Local residents have been allocated² 5,000 free tickets. The Tomatina costs the town 150,000 euros to organise³. A hefty part of that sum goes toward paying for the 130 tons of tomatoes used as ammunition⁴ in the street battles. The streets are literally⁵ flooded with tomato juice at the festival's end.

西班牙的经济窘境让这项著名的节日成为了一项买票参加的活动。资金匮乏的布尼奥尔小镇将向参加番茄大战活动的参与者收钱。在长达一个小时的番茄大战中，游客需要至少支付10欧元（13美金）。尽管如此，所有1万5000张门票售罄。并向当地居民分发了5000张免费门票。组织番茄大战需要花费15万欧元。其中大部分资金都用来购买作为大战武器的130吨番茄。不夸张的讲，大战结束时大街上全是番茄汁。

Tourists from all over the world have flocked to the Tomatina for decades. Bunol's town mayor told reporters the decision to charge was partly due to financial constraints⁶, but also out of security concerns. He said: "This is the first year we are charging for access to this popular festival due to the need to limit the crowd for safety reasons. We have had a problem for the past eight or 10 years. The Tomatina is not controlled. We don't know how many people are going to come." The festival started just after the end of WWII. There are various reports about its origins. The most popular is that of a brawl⁷ between teenagers near a vegetable market ending up with the youths pelting⁸ each other with tomatoes.

数十年来，来自全球的游客都会蜂拥前往，参加番茄大战。布尼奥尔镇长对记者说收钱的部分原因是因为资金紧张，除此之外也是出于安全的考虑。他称：“出于安全考虑，我们对游客进行了人数的限制，这也是第一次向这项节日收钱。在过去8年或是10年间，我们总是存在问题。并没有对番茄大战进行控制。我们不知道会来多少人。”这项节日是在二战结束后才开始的。关于它的起源报道也是层出不穷。最著名的报道是一群年轻人在蔬菜市场周围打架，最后他们用西红柿开始互相攻击。

1 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

2 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。

3 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

4 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 brawl   

n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂

参考例句：

• They had nothing better to do than brawl in the street.他们除了在街上斗殴做不出什么好事。
• I don't want to see our two neighbours engaged in a brawl.我不希望我们两家吵架吵得不可开交。

8 pelting   

微不足道的，无价值的，盛怒的

参考例句：

• The rain came pelting down. 倾盆大雨劈头盖脸地浇了下来。
• Hailstones of abuse were pelting him. 阵阵辱骂冰雹般地向他袭来。