世界吃牡蠣大賽:“你的胃就像人類俄羅斯方塊”

The world of competitive oyster eating: 'your stomach is like a human Tetris'

世界吃牡蠣大賽:“你的胃就像人類俄羅斯方塊”

As a barge Moves down the Mississippi River, a team of workers unpacks large white coolers full of dozens and dozens of raw oysters.

駁船沿着密西西比河緩緩移動,一隊工人解包裝滿了許許多多生蠔的大白冷卻器。

At the New Orleans Oyster Festival, eight eaters will slurp down as many mollusks as they can in the allotted eight minutes. The winner takes home $1,000 from Major League Eating (MLE), which also oversees the ESPN-televised Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest on Coney Island every summer.

在新奧爾良牡蠣節,八人將在8分鐘內吃盡可能多的軟體動物。獲勝者可以贏1000美元從吃大聯盟(MLE),同時監督每年夏天體育頻道（ESPN）科尼島上著名的吃熱狗大賽。

After a short introduction, the shy, hometown favorite Adrian “The Rabbit” Morgan saunters to his spot on stage.

簡短的介紹後,有“兔子”之稱、害羞而深受家鄉喜歡的艾德里安摩根，信步走到舞臺上的位置上。

Morgan stands next to the 110-pound, Sonya“The Black Widow” Thomas, 48, who holds the competition’s record of 47 dozen. For the past decade, she’s dominated the competition. Morgan recently beat Thomas in crawfish eating, but no one ever bested her at oysters. He thinks this might finally be his year.

48歲的摩根旁邊站着110磅,有桑婭“黑寡婦”之稱的托馬斯,她擁有47打比賽的記錄。在過去的十年中,她一直遙遙領先主導比賽。而摩根最近在吃小龍蝦時擊敗托馬斯,但是從來沒有人在吃牡蠣上打敗過她。摩根認爲他今年可能是冠軍。

MLE, founded in 1997, currently ranks 50 eaters and sanctions nearly 80 professional contests across the country for foods such as corn, chicken wings, and pie.

成立於1997年的MLE,目前排名50食客和提供全國食物,如玉米、雞翅和餡餅等近80專業競賽。

Over the years, it courted some criticism for contract issues and health concerns, but the contests consistently attract enormous crowds (an estimated 40,000 people attend Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest). In 2009, the organization began sending eaters overseas on Navy trips, to entertain troops at Guantanamo Bay and Atsugi in Japan.

多年來,因爲合同問題和健康問題，比賽引來批評,但卻持續吸引着衆多人們(估計有40000人蔘加的“內森杯”吃熱狗大賽)。2009年,該組織開始派食客到海外海軍部隊給在那些關塔那摩灣（Guantanamo）和日本厚木(Atsugi)的士兵們帶來歡樂。

Anyone can sign up for a contest. Timed contests usually last six minutes for sweets like cheesecake, eight minutes for seafood, ten for meats, and 12 for vegetables.任何人都可以報名參加比賽。計時比賽通常六分鐘內吃芝士蛋糕等甜食,八分鐘（吃）海鮮,十分鐘（吃）肉類,12分鐘（吃）蔬菜。

Different foods require different techniques to eat quickly and Conti, who has also run marathons, says oysters need a focus on manual to oral dexterity, the economy of motion, and a plan on how many to swallow at once.

不同的食物（的快速吃法）需要用到不同的技巧，跑馬拉松的康帝說（吃）牡蠣要專注於從手到口的技巧，最省力節能的運動方式,和一次吞下多少的計劃。

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