新奇事件簿 番茄大战收门票（在线收听）

Spain's economic woes 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 allocated 5,000 free tickets. The Tomatina costs the town 150,000 euros to organise. A hefty part of that sum goes toward paying for the 130 tons of tomatoes used as ammunition in the street battles. The streets are literally 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 constraints, 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 brawl between teenagers near a vegetable market ending up with the youths pelting 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。