As we get older, does our sense of smell get better or worse

As we get older, does our sense of smell get better or worse?

随着年龄的增长，我们的嗅觉会变得越来越好还是越来越差呢？

Smells and memories

嗅觉与记忆

 

Kate:Hello, I’m Kate Colin and welcome to 6 Minute English. Today I'm joined again by Jackie Dalton and we’re talking about smells and memories.

Jackie:Hi Kate, yes our topic today is about how certain smells can take us back to another time and place. We've all experienced the sudden flashback（急转） of memory and emotions that certain smells conjure¹ up（以魔法召唤）. To conjure up means to create picture in your mind. Often we don’t just remember something from the past, we feel exactly the same way as we did the first time we smelt² it.

Kate:Yes, for me the smell of mothballs(卫生球) takes me back to being in my grandmother's house. I remember exactly how I felt when I was five years old and went to visit her.

Jackie:And for me, the smell of lavender（薰衣草） reminds me of the house that I grew up in because we used to have a lot of lavender in the garden.

Kate:So here's my question for this week. Are you ready? As we grow older does our sense of smell get better or worse?

Jackie:Answers

Kate: Alright, we’ll check your answer at the end of the programme. But first we're going to hear from some people on the streets of London who are talking about what smells remind them of certain things. Listen and try to remember what specific things they say trigger certain memories. To trigger means to cause something to start….

Man 1  Pipes, smoking pipes always remind me of Isle³ of Wight 

Man 2  And bleach⁴ （漂白剂）smells of Majorca to me in Spain, being on holiday in Spain 

Man 3  Old mud makes memories of old villages back home in India, you know 

Woman 4  Cigarettes, perfume and vodka for my grandmother 

 

Jackie:They mentioned pipe smoke, bleach, old mud and finally the last lady said cigarettes, perfume and vodka reminded her of her grandmother.

Kate:That's right. Let's hear more about how smells are linked to our emotions and memories. Let's listen to psychologist, Professor Rachel Hertz. You'll hear the word 'triggered' again. What other senses does she say can 'trigger' a memory?

Clip 4 Compared to a memory triggered by seeing something, hearing something, feeling something

or the word for something…..

Jackie:She mentioned that memories can be triggered by seeing, hearing, feeling or hearing the word for something. But there's something different about the way we're affected⁵ by those things and by smelling……lets listen to find out what the difference is:

Clip 4 continued …..when it's a smell that brings back the memory we experience that memory as more emotionally intense, we are more back to that original time and place and actually our brain is more activated⁶ in the emotion centres than if it's any other cue（开端，线索）, that brings us to the exact same memory.

Jackie:She said that smells bring us to the same memory as the other senses but we experience that memory as more emotionally intense. This means that we feel it more strongly. We are taken back to a certain time and place more convincingly than if a memory was triggered by another cue, for example a photograph or music. And apparently⁷ this is because smell physically⁸ enters our brain and goes to the same areas where we process memory and emotion.

Kate:Now, let's look at some smell related vocabulary - there are many words in English we use to mean 'smell'. These include: fragrance⁹, scent¹⁰ and aroma¹¹, odour and stink¹².

Jackie:Yes, fragrance or scent is often used when the smell is a pleasant one, perfume for example is often called a fragrance. Scent is also a nice natural smell. Aroma is often used when talking about food or drink in a positive way, for example 'the wine had a fruity aroma'. Odour, however often refers to an unpleasant, for example 'inside the room there was a distinct odour of sweaty feet' and we use the word stink when we want to say that something smells very unpleasant, for example, 'this house stinks¹³ of cigarettes!'

Kate:Eurrgh! Going back what we were saying about how smells conjure up memories, what's interesting is that smells only evoke（唤起，引起） special memories for us when we don't smell them very often. For example, if we smell coffee every day, it's not going to remind us of that holiday 10 years ago.

Let's listen to the next speaker, James Watts¹⁴. He's a frequent traveller and likes to pair up smells and good memories. He deliberately¹⁵ imprints¹⁶ （刻上记号）memories of holidays in his mind each time he goes away somewhere new. How does he do this?

Man When I go away on holidays I deliberately buy a deodorant¹⁷（除臭剂） or an aftershave（刮胡水） so in five/ten years' time I can smell this and it can take me back, like that. Within a second a smelling it I can picture who I was with, the food we ate, the music we were into to…

Jackie:  He said that when he goes on holiday he deliberately buys deodorant or aftershave which he uses for the duration of the holiday. Then in five or ten years' time he can sniff¹⁸ the bottle and be transported back in time to that specific time and place. I've never heard of anyone using smell and memory to deliberately conjure up memories like that before, but I think it's quite a good idea. 

Kate:  Yes, I might try it when I go on my holiday this year. Now let's go over some of the vocabulary we've come across today. We had: conjure up -to create a picture in one's mind. to trigger - to cause something to start emotionally intense - to feel something very strongly And the smell related words: fragrance, scent and aroma which generally refer to pleasant smells and odour and stink which are bad smells 

Kate:  So finally to my question I asked earlier. I asked you if our sense of smell gets better or worse as we get older. 

Jackie:  I said…. 

Kate:  And you were correct, unfortunately as we get older our sense of smell gets worse along with all our other senses. 

That's all we've got time for today, thanks for listening – goodbye!  (本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 conjure   

v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法

参考例句：

• I conjure you not to betray me.我恳求你不要背弃我。
• I can't simply conjure up the money out of thin air.我是不能像变魔术似的把钱变来。

2 smelt   

v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼

参考例句：

• Tin is a comparatively easy metal to smelt.锡是比较容易熔化的金属。
• Darby was looking for a way to improve iron when he hit upon the idea of smelting it with coke instead of charcoal.达比一直在寻找改善铁质的方法，他猛然想到可以不用木炭熔炼，而改用焦炭。

3 isle   

n.小岛，岛

参考例句：

• He is from the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea.他来自爱尔兰海的马恩岛。
• The boat left for the paradise isle of Bali.小船驶向天堂一般的巴厘岛。

4 bleach   

vt.使漂白；vi.变白；n.漂白剂

参考例句：

• These products don't bleach the hair.这些产品不会使头发变白。
• Did you bleach this tablecloth?你把这块桌布漂白了吗？

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

7 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

10 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

11 aroma   

n.香气，芬芳，芳香

参考例句：

• The whole house was filled with the aroma of coffee.满屋子都是咖啡的香味。
• The air was heavy with the aroma of the paddy fields.稻花飘香。

12 stink   

vi.发出恶臭；糟透，招人厌恶；n.恶臭

参考例句：

• The stink of the rotten fish turned my stomach.腐烂的鱼臭味使我恶心。
• The room has awful stink.那个房间散发着难闻的臭气。

13 stinks   

v.散发出恶臭( stink的第三人称单数 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透

参考例句：

• The whole scheme stinks to high heaven—don't get involved in it. 整件事十分卑鄙龌龊——可别陷了进去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soup stinks of garlic. 这汤有大蒜气味。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

15 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

16 imprints   

n.压印( imprint的名词复数 )；痕迹；持久影响

参考例句：

• With each step he took, his boots left muddy imprints on the floor. 她父亲的毡靴一移动，就在地板上压了几个泥圈圈。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
• In Freudian theory, the imprints are memories, albeit unconscious ones. 在佛洛伊德理论中，这些痕迹就是记忆，只不过它们是无意识的。 来自互联网

17 deodorant   

adj.除臭的；n.除臭剂

参考例句：

• She applies deodorant to her armpits after she showers.沐浴后，她在腋下涂上除臭剂。
• Spray deodorant and keep the silk garments dry before dressing.在穿衣之前，洒涂防臭剂并保持干燥。

18 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。