【英语时差8,16】饥饿如何影响胃口？

Yael: You know how they say you should never go grocery shopping when you're hungry?

Don: Everything looks delicious.

Y: Yes, well, doesn't it seem to you that food is indeed more delicious when you're hungry? I don't normally care for potato chips, but if I'm starving, they taste exquisite¹.

D: That might have something to do with how hunger heightens your sensitivity for saltiness and sweetness.

Y: It does?

D: It seems so. Neuroscientists tested people's abilities to taste salty, sweet, and bitter solutions both after a fast and after eating a meal. The participants ate a prescribed meal for dinner, and then they were tested the next day after not having any breakfast. They were tested a second time after eating lunch. The results showed that people can detect lower concentrations of saltiness and sweetness when they're hungry than when they're satiated. However, our ability to detect bitterness remains² constant.

Y: Do scientists know why that is?

D: Well, sweetness and saltiness signal that a food is edible³, and so it seems to make sense that when our bodies need energy, we would be more sensitive to these tastes. Bitterness, on the other hand, can signal that a food is unsuitable, possibly toxic⁴. Hence, it may be to our benefit to be highly sensitive to bitterness whether we're hungry or not.

Y: Interesting. It seems curious though that hunger makes us extra sensitive to foods that are fattening⁵.

D: Some scientists think that when food was more scarce it made sense to be attracted to fatty foods, so as to store fat reserves. That we're still attracted to these foods may go to show that our genes have yet to adapt to the changes in our environment

1 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 edible   

n.食品，食物；adj.可食用的

参考例句：

• Edible wild herbs kept us from dying of starvation.我们靠着野菜才没被饿死。
• This kind of mushroom is edible,but that kind is not.这种蘑菇吃得，那种吃不得。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 fattening   

adj.（食物）要使人发胖的v.喂肥( fatten的现在分词 )；养肥（牲畜）；使（钱）增多；使（公司）升值

参考例句：

• The doctor has advised him to keep off fattening food. 医生已建议他不要吃致肥食物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We substitute margarine for cream because cream is fattening. 我们用人造黄油代替奶油，因为奶油会使人发胖。 来自《简明英汉词典》