我们如何描述气味？

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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside The UK.

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还有六分钟吗？

Got another six minutes?

我们还有很多内容可以帮助你提升英语。

We have lots more to help you with your English.

试试《简易英语》节目，从自然的英语对话中学习，或者从世界各地的重要新闻中学习英语。

Try Real Easy English to learn from natural English conversations or learn some English from the biggest news stories from around the world.

在你的播客应用中搜索BBC Learning English，找到我们的其他节目，或者访问bbclearningenglish.com获取更多内容。

Search BBC Learning English in your podcast app to find our other programs or find much more at bbclearningenglish.com.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.

大家好。

Hello.

这里是BBC Learning English的六分钟英语。

This is six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

我是尼尔。

I'm Neil.

我是乔治。

And I'm Georgie.

在英语中，描述气味的方式有很多种。

In English, there are many ways to describe smells.

诗人迈克尔·罗森想找一些描述难闻气味的词，于是他在BBC广播四台的节目《口口相传》中向听众征集建议。

Poet Michael Rosen wanted to find words describing bad smells and asked listeners of his BBC Radio four programme Word-of-mouth for some suggestions.

臭烘烘、馊味、呛人、刺鼻、难闻、怪味。

Fousty, reeking, toking, honking, humming, funky.

气味无处不在，无论是像臭鸡蛋和汗脚那样的难闻气味，还是像薰衣草和新鲜出炉的面包那样的宜人气味。

Smells are everywhere, whether they're bad smells like rotten eggs and sweaty feet or pleasant ones like lavender and freshly baked bread.

乔治，你特别喜欢或不喜欢什么气味呢？

What smells do you especially like or dislike, Georgie?

嗯，我真的很喜欢皮革的气味，但我特别喜欢的是雨的气味，它有个名字。

Well, I really enjoy the smell of leather, but something I really love is the smell of rain, which has a name.

你知道吗，尼尔？

Do you know it, Neil?

我其实不知道。

I don't think I do actually.

它叫petrichor。

It's called petrichor.

就是雨后地面的那种气味。

It's that smell of the ground just after it's rained.

尼尔，你呢？

Neil, what about you?

你喜欢哪些气味？

Which smells do you like?

我觉得没有什么比刚打开一包研磨咖啡时的味道更好了。

Neil Well, I don't think you can beat the smell of a freshly opened packet of ground coffee.

哦，这个不错。

Oh, that's a good one.

在本期节目中，我们将学习一些关于气味的有用新词汇和短语。

In this episode, we'll be learning the language of smells using some useful new words and phrases.

记住，你可以在我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com 上找到所有词汇，还有小测验和练习册。

And remember, you can find all the vocabulary plus a quiz and worksheet on our website bbclearningenglish.com.

但首先，我有个问题要问你，乔治。

But first, I have a question for you, Georgie.

很多人喜欢旧书的味道，以及它带来的那种怀旧感，让人想起二手书店。

One smell many people love is the smell of old books and the sentimental feeling it gives them for secondhand bookshops.

其实，这个词还真有。

In fact, there's even a word for it.

那是什么呢？

But what is it?

是a) velicore，b) petrichor，还是c) 都不是？

Is it a) velicore b) petrichor c) neither

嗯，我们已经知道petrichor是雨后地面的气味。

Well, we already know that petrichor is the smell of the ground after rain.

我选a) velicor。

I'm going to go with a) velicor.

好的，我们节目最后揭晓答案。

Well, we'll find out at the end of the programme.

听迈克尔·罗森列举的那些词，像“臭烘烘”、“难闻”、“有味儿”之类的，你可能会觉得英语很擅长描述气味。

Listening to Michael Rosen's list funky, reeking, humming and the rest you might think English is good at describing smells.

但实际上，这些词的意思都只是“难闻”而已。

But in fact, all those words really mean is bad smelling.

在英语里，我们经常通过跟其他东西比较来描述气味。

In English, we often describe smells by comparing them to other objects.

比如说，好闻的东西可能闻起来像玫瑰，难闻的东西可能闻起来像臭鸡蛋。

For example, something nice might smell like a rose, while something bad might smell like rotten eggs.

但是很少有词能直接描述气味本身。

But there are few words to describe the actual smell itself.

牛津大学的心理学家阿西法·马吉德对气味这个课题做了大量研究。

Oxford University psychologist Asifa Majid has researched the subject of smell extensively.

她跟迈克尔·罗森分享了一些她的发现，这是在BBC广播四台的节目《口口相传》里。

Here she tells Michael Rosen a little of what she's found out on BBC Radio four programme Word-of-mouth.

所以，像“臭的”或“香的”这样的词，它们确实是在告诉我们某样东西是好是坏。

So if we think about things like stinky or fragrant, they're definitely telling us that something is good or bad.

但跟颜色词不一样，这些词似乎并不是在描述那个东西本身。

But unlike color terms, it doesn't really seem to be about the object it's describing.

这看起来是主观的。

It seems to be a subjective thing.

我可以这么说，你觉得这款香水很香，但我觉得它很臭。

I could say, this perfume you think is really fragrant, I think is stinky.

而且这两种说法

And both can

都可能成立。

be true.

描述气味不像描述其他感官那样。

Describing smell is not like describing other senses.

我可能觉得一款香水很臭，这个词的意思是难闻，而尼尔可能觉得同一款香水很香，意思是好闻。

I might think a perfume is stinky, an adjective meaning bad smelling, while Neil might find the same perfume fragrant, meaning pleasant smelling.

这两种说法都可能成立。

Both can be true.

关键在于，不管是“臭”还是“香”，都没有具体说明这款香水实际的气味是什么。

The point is that neither stinky nor fragrant say anything specific about the perfume's actual smell.

而我们的味觉就不一样了。

With our sense of taste, it's different.

像辣、甜、咸这样的词，大家一听就能达成共识，但气味就不是这样了。

Words like spicy, sweet or salty create a common idea that we can all agree on, but that's not the case for smells.

阿卡法认为，这是因为气味不像味觉和颜色，气味词是主观的。

Acafa thinks this is because unlike tastes and colours, smell words are subjective.

它们基于个人观点和感受，而不是客观事实。

They're based on personal opinions and feelings rather than objective truth.

这或许能解释为什么我们对谈论气味的态度如此不同。

This might explain why our attitude to talking about smells is so different.

下面阿卡法再次分享一些例子，讲讲我们是怎么在BBC广播四台谈论气味的。

Here's Acefa again sharing some examples of how we talk about smells with BBC Radio four.

所以如果我们

So if

比较一下人们谈论视觉、听觉、味觉或嗅觉的频率，就会发现我们谈论所见之物很多，但很少谈论所闻之气。

we compare how often people talk about visual things or auditory things or taste or smells, what we find is we talk a lot about what we see and very rarely about what we smell.

英国的小孩子常常对嗅觉感兴趣，他们会说出来，但家长往往会制止。

Young children in The UK are often interested in the sense of smell and they'll remark on it and the parent will shut it down.

他们会说，那太恶心了。

They'll say, that's disgusting.

把它放下。

Put it down.

ACFA的研究表明，至少在英国，人们谈论视觉或听觉方面的事情远比谈论气味多得多。

ACFA's research shows that, here in The UK at least, people talk about visual or auditory things much more than they talk about smells.

形容词“visual”意思是与视觉相关的，而“auditory”意思是与听觉相关的。

The adjective visual means related to seeing, and auditory means related to hearing.

与嗅觉相关的形容词是“olfactory”。

The adjective for things related to smelling is olfactory.

也许这是因为我们从小受到父母的影响。

Maybe this is because of how we're raised by our parents.

当孩子们开始谈论气味，尤其是不好闻的气味时，父母往往会打断这个话题。

When children start talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, parents often react by shutting the conversation down.

短语“to shut something down”意思是阻止或终止某事。

The phrase to shut something down means to stop it.

和其他欧洲语言一样，英语里描述具体气味特质的词汇其实不多。

Along with other European languages, English doesn't have much vocabulary dedicated to the different qualities of actual smells.

虽然有很多方式谈论气味，尤其是难闻的气味，但真正描述气味本身的词却很少。

There are many ways of talking about smells, especially unpleasant ones, but only a few words which describe actual smells themselves.

一个很好的例子就是“musty”，意思是发霉的、陈旧的味，你可能会在旧书店里闻到。

A good example of a word which does this is musty a damp stale smell you might find in an old bookshop.

尼尔，这让我想起了你问的那个问题。

And Neil, that reminds me of your question.

没错。

That's right.

我问你的问题是，哪个词表示旧书的气味。

I asked you what the word is which means the smell of old books.

我当时说的是“velicore”。

I said it was velicore.

嗯，乔治，你完全正确。

Well, Georgie, you are absolutely right.

太好了。

Yay.

就像你之前说的，petrichor 指的是雨后泥土的气味，而 neither 指的是烹饪肉和油脂的气味。

Petrichor, as you said earlier, is the smell of the earth after rain and neither is the smell of cooking meat and fat.

好了，是时候回顾一下我们学过的词汇了。

Okay, it's time for a recap of the vocabulary we've learned.

形容词 stinky 意思是难闻的，而 fragrant 意思是芳香的。

The adjective stinky means foul smelling, while the adjective fragrant means pleasant smelling.

主观的事情是基于你个人的观点和感受，而不是客观事实。

Subjective things are based on your own personal opinions and feelings rather than objective facts.

形容词 visual 描述与视觉相关的事物，而 auditory 意味着与听觉相关。

The adjective visual describes things related to seeing, while auditory means related to hearing.

与嗅觉相关的事物被称为 olfactory。

Things related to smelling are called olfactory.

最后，短语动词 shut something down 意思是停止它。

And finally, the phrasal verb to shut something down means to stop it.

好了，我们的六分钟时间又到了，不过现在还有时间去我们的网站 bbclearningenglish.com 做个小测验，还有包含我们今天讨论的所有词汇的练习单。

Once again, our six minutes are up, but there's still time to head over to our website bbclearningenglish.com for a quiz and worksheet containing all the vocabulary we've discussed.

我们很快再见，但现在，该说再见了。

See you again soon, but for now, it's goodbye.

再见。

Goodbye.

六分钟英语。

Six Minute English.

来自 bbclearningenglish.com。

From bbclearningenglish.com.

无论你在哪里收听，都可以通过 BBC 播客获取更多内容。

Get more with BBC podcasts wherever you listen.

订阅 Apple Podcasts 上的 BBC 播客高级版，抢先收听你最喜欢的节目，比如《邪恶天才》《好坏的亿万富翁》和《你死我活》。

Be the first to listen to your favorite shows, like evil genius, good bad billionaire, and you're dead to me with a subscription to BBC podcasts premium on Apple Podcasts.

你也可以通过 Amazon Music 订阅，享受我们一系列无广告的播客。

You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad free with an Amazon Music subscription.