美国国家公共电台 NPR With No Sense Of Smell, The World Can Be A Grayer, Scarier Place

With No Sense Of Smell, The World Can Be A Grayer, Scarier Place 

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Let's hear about life without the sense of smell. Garbage collectors, new parents changing diapers and anyone who's ever ridden a subway might find something appealing about the condition known as anosmia - the inability to smell. But as Annette Heist reports, losing your sense of smell often means the loss of much more.

ANNETTE HEIST, BYLINE²: Meet Nisha Pradhan.

Am I saying your name right?

NISHA PRADHAN: Yes.

HEIST: She's 21 years old. She just graduated from Rosemont College near Philadelphia - biology with a dual³ minor⁴. And she's headed to med school.

PRADHAN: Yes, hopefully.

HEIST: Like a lot of us, Nisha loves to cook. But there's one problem. She's anosmic.

PRADHAN: For as long as I can remember, I've never been able to smell.

HEIST: And that means she can't always taste what she's made.

BEVERLY COWART: When you lose your sense of smell, your whole sense of food flavor is distorted and diminished.

HEIST: That's Beverly Cowart of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

COWART: What you're missing are the sort of subtle distinctions - the difference between strawberry and banana, between chocolate and vanilla⁵.

HEIST: And that can make eating pretty unsatisfying for anosmics.

PRADHAN: I think a lot of us today like to pretend or be foodies. And we all like to talk about, oh, I think this could use a little bit more lemongrass or I think this has a hint of cinnamon. I can't really participate in those conversations. So I do feel some sense of loss or some sense of isolation⁶ when eating with other people.

HEIST: You need olfactory⁷ receptor neurons to smell. These nerve cells carry messages from the outside world to your brain.

COWART: What we smell is literally⁸ a piece of the thing that we smell. It's a molecule⁹ that's been given off by that thing.

HEIST: There aren't good numbers for how many people suffer from smell loss, and the causes of it vary. Some people are born with no sense of smell. That's called congenital anosmia, a rare condition. Acquired smell loss is more common. That loss can be total or what's called hyposmia, a diminished sense of smell. Cowart says smell loss can happen when olfactory cells get damaged by things we inhale¹⁰, by a head injury or by viruses.

COWART: Simple cold viruses will sometimes seem to attack those receptor neurons and cause a longer-term loss of smell due to damage to those neurons.

HEIST: Aging also plays a big role.

COWART: By the time people are in their - certainly their 70s and beyond, very few people escape without some degree of smell loss.

HEIST: That might cause some seniors to lose their appetite or over-season their food.

Nisha doesn't know how she lost her sense of smell, but she thinks she was born with one. As a little kid, she remembers liking¹¹ food and eating. But...

PRADHAN: There came this point where I wasn't eating as much, or I - and I didn't show that much interest in food. That was probably when I lost my sense of smell.

HEIST: Nisha wonders whether her anosmia has affected¹² more than her appetite. She thinks it may have affected her memory. Remember the smell of your elementary school cafeteria, the perfume of your first crush? That feeling where a certain smell instantly takes you back - Nisha doesn't get that feeling. And she's afraid it means parts of the past are missing.

PRADHAN: When I ask my sister about this - and she - she and I are not very far apart in age, but she remembers people and places and things we've done more vividly¹³ than I do.

PAUL MOORE: So what Nisha's probably experienced - and in part she's right, and she doesn't get that deep emotional attachment¹⁴ to the memories she's laying down.

HEIST: That's biologist Paul Moore, author of the book, "The Hidden Power Of Smell." Moore says smell memories are different from other memories. When you smell something, he says, it triggers a response in the limbic system, what he calls the emotional part of the brain.

MOORE: When olfactory memories come in or olfactory signals come in, you feel about them first. You don't process it. You don't think about it. You feel about it. And then you think about it. And then the memory is laid down.

HEIST: So without the feeling part, the thinking about it part doesn't come. That means no new smell memory gets created. There's no cure for congenital anosmia. Doctors can treat the inflammation or nasal blockage¹⁵ that may be causing acquired smell loss. And if the damage isn't too great, sometimes the sense of smell returns.

But it could take years if it happens at all. Researchers are also studying stem cells to see whether they can coax¹⁶ them into becoming new olfactory neurons. But human trials are years away, Cowart says. Nisha, she's not holding out hope for a cure anytime soon.

PRADHAN: Realistically - and maybe this is the premed in me. And I know a little bit about how research works and how long trials take to get medications or therapies out. For me, right now, the biggest concern is, can I really trust myself to live on my own?

HEIST: To know whether the milk in her fridge is spoiled or if she's burning something on the stove or if there's a gas leak - that would be enough for her for now. For NPR News, I'm Annette Heist.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

6 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

7 olfactory   

adj.嗅觉的

参考例句：

• He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
• Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现，凯勒推断，每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。

8 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

9 molecule   

n.分子，克分子

参考例句：

• A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hygrogen and one atom of oxygen.一个水分子是由P妈̬f婘̬ 妈̬成的。
• This gives us the structural formula of the molecule.这种方式给出了分子的结构式。

10 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

11 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

12 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。

13 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

14 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

15 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

16 coax   

v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取

参考例句：

• I had to coax the information out of him.我得用好话套出他掌握的情况。
• He tried to coax the secret from me.他试图哄骗我说出秘方。