There is a saying that goes, "Big boys don't cry", but in Berlin at the "Spicy Food World Championship", there were more than one or two men with tears in their eyes.
The challenge of the competition is simple; competitors are set the task to eat all 14 dishes of a specially prepared menu that increased in spiciness with every dish consumed.
The competition started from a joke amongst a group of friends who set themselves the challenge to see who amongst them could eat the hottest chillies. The madcap idea took hold and grew in popularity till it became a serious contest.

有句话说“大男孩不哭”，但在柏林的“吃辣世界锦标赛”上，不止只有一两个大男孩眼里噙着泪水。
比赛的挑战项目很简单，参赛者会拿到一份特别准备的任务菜单并依次吃下这份菜单上的14盘菜，而这14盘菜的辣度会逐盘递增。
这项比赛起源于一群朋友之间开的一个玩笑——较量他们之间谁能吃下最辣的辣椒。这个疯狂的想法慢慢流行开，人气也逐渐增加，直至现在变成了一项认真的竞赛。

【注解】
文中的Spicy Food World Championship就是“吃辣世界锦标赛”的意思，其中spicy是形容词，解释为“辛辣的，香的”，其名词形式即第二段中出现的spiciness。文中第三段中的hot也解释为“辣”，其反义词可以是mild（味淡的）。
此外，文中的chilli解释为“辣椒”，由它制成的“辣椒粉”称为chilli powder或chilli。其他常见的辣味食材还有如pepper（胡椒）、mustard（芥末）等。