【今日英語】When life loses its smell 噹生命失落往它

　　Vocabulary: human senses 詞匯：人的觉得

　　A trained sniffer dog can find hidden drugs or earthquake survivors and even detect cancer. We might not have as good a sense of smellas dogs, but we still follow our noses. Wake up and smell the coffee! Something smells fishy. She has a nose for a bargain. The English language is full of idioms to do with smell, and many of them show how important smell is to our sense of judgement.

　　And that's not surprising, because a sense of smell is very useful in telling when food is off, or clothes need washing, for example. But millions of people can't smell anything at all: to use a medical term, they are 'anosmic.' In the UK alone, around 3 million people are anosmic, but the country's first clinic to help them has only recently been set up.

　　So how do people lose their sense of smell? Some people are born that way, they are congenitally anosmic. Others lose their sense of smell because of a head injury, or illness. Those with congenital anosmia might not know what they're missing, but people who lose their sense of smell often become depressed.

　　It's not only scents which are missing for people with anosmia，漢英翻譯. Food and drink lose their appeal too, because smell accounts for around 80% of our sense of flavour. They can't taste herbs, spices or garlic and fruit and wine simply taste sour.

　　Anosmia can also be dangerous. People with anosmia can get food poisoning, because they can't smell when food is bad. They can't smell smoke from a house fire, or leaking gas. Sarah Page is a patient at the new taste and smell clinic. She once turned the gas cooker on by mistake. Unable to smell it, Sarah was unaware that the house was filling with gas, which could have exploded at any time. It was some time before her mother came home and realised the problem.

　　Sarah is going to have an operation to treat her condition in the next few months. If it's successful, she says that what she wants most isn't to avoid danger. She would like to share the olfactory world of other people, including the bad smells. Sarah says, "People go 'Oh, thatstinks' - I want to be able to understand why that's a bad smell and join in with that conversation."

　　Quiz 攷試

　　How many people are anosmic in the UK?

　　Which phrase is used to mean 'born without a sense of smell'?

　　Why don't anosmic people enjoy wine?

　　Why do anosmic people get food poisoning?

　　What kind of treatment is Sarah Page going to have at the clinic?

　　Glossary 辭匯表

　　· detect發明，檢測

　　· sense of smell嗅覺

　　· follow our noses隨著鼻子走

　　· wake up and smell the coffee!(比喻)認渾事实

　　· something smells fishy(譬喻)甚麼事务有貓膩

　　· she has a nose for a bargain(例如)某人特别會找價廉物好的貨色

　　· idioms成語

　　· telling斷定

　　· off(食品)壞了，餿了

　　· head injury頭部創傷

　　· depressed懊喪，掉蹤

　　· scents氣息

　　· food poisoning食物中毒

　　· leaking gas煤氣洩露

　　· patient病人

　　· operation腳朮

　　· treat her condition醫治她的病症

　　· olfactory嗅覺

　　· go讲

　　· stinks臭