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The Flavor of the Mouth 当月新口味

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本  

If you take a quick look at your local supermarket shelves, you’ll probably notice a proliferation of food products proclaiming all-new flavors. Is this simply the product of clever branding and marketing? Hardly. What you see is the result of Nobel Prize-winning advances in favor technology.

倘若你快速浏览一下本地超级市场里的货架，你或许会发觉成群的食品都宣称它是全新口味。这仅是出自巧妙的品牌和营销策略下的产品吗？事实不只如此。你看到的其实是诺贝尔奖成就带进调味品科技的结果。

Breakthroughs in chemistry have allowed food technologists, called “flavorists,” to identify the specific molecular compounds that give food its flavors. Ironically, these chemicals are more often associated with aromas picked up by the nose than with flavors detected by the tongue. In fact, without the sense of smell, people cannot distinguish between the flavors of grape and peach, or between beef and lamb.

化学方面最新的突破使得食品科技人员，他们被称做「气味专家」，有办法确认赋予食品风味的分子复合物。讽刺的是，这些化学成分与鼻子接收气味的关系密切，更甚于靠舌头品尝出味道。事实上，人倘若没有嗅觉，将不能区别出葡萄与桃子、或牛肉与羊肉之间不同的味道。

So how does technology lead to new flavors on your table? Flavor company scientists literally scour the four corners of the Earth in search of new scents and then identify their chemical components. Then, via a process that earned Japanese scientist Ryoji Noyori his 2001 Nobel Prize in chemistry, laboratories reproduce these molecules in a much purer form. These artificial and natural flavors are then sold to food manufacturers in a $US 7.5 billion per year industry.

究竟科技是如何把新口味带上人类餐桌呢？香料公司的科学家们是真正地行遍世界各地，搜寻各种新鲜味道，然后确认它们的化学成分。接着经由一种2001年日籍科学家良治野赖得过诺贝尔化学奖的处理程序，实验室把这些分子成分以更纯粹的形式重制出来。然后这些人工制成的天然口味就被卖往年营业额达七十五亿美元的食品制造产业。

So the next time you savor a new candy or potato chip, thank the flavorists.

所以下回你品尝新口味的糖果或洋芋片时，要特别感谢这些气味专家。

Vocabulary

单词发音

proliferation [prə͵lɪfəˋreʃən] n.〔数量〕激增; 扩散[+of]

proclaim [prəˋklem] v. 宣告；公布；声明

advance [ədˋvæns] n. 进步；进展

flavorist 调香师

molecular [məˋlɛkjəlɚ] adj. 分子的；由分子组成的

aroma [əˋromə] n.（植物、酒、菜肴等的）芳香，香气，香味

scour [skaʊr] v. 走遍（某地）搜索

scent [sɛnt] n. 气味，香味

via [ˋvaɪə] prep. 经由

savor [ˋsevɚ] v. 品尝；【喻】品味

Sentence of the Day

This is just a taste of things to come.

这就是未来的大热门。

课文讲解

Anthony and Susan are stocking shelves at a Brooklyn grocery store:  安东尼和苏珊在布鲁克林一家杂货店里整理备料架上的货品：

A: It’s mind-blowing to think about all these new kinds of potato chips: sweet barbecue, cool French onion, four cheese; the list goes on and on.

想到有这么多种新洋芋片就令人眼花撩乱：香甜火烤、法式洋葱、四味起司；单子上还不知道其他有多少种呢。

S: It seems like we display a new line of products every week. It’s pretty interesting how the new flavors are created, though.

好像我们每周都在摆设新推出的产品。不过各种新口味的创造过程还满有趣的。

A: Flavors are a real New Jersey industry: practically all the fragrance and flavor companies have facilities just off the turnpike.

香料工业这一行是纽泽西州的大产业，几乎所有香料公司的厂房和设备都设在刚下收费高速公路的路段那儿。

S: Yeah, my uncle works over there in advertising. He told me Jersey flavor chemists travel the world looking for new and obscure flavorings. Then they bring their samples back for laboratory analysis.

是啊，我叔叔就在那儿从事广告业。他告诉我纽泽西地区的食品香料化学专家可是行遍天下去采集各式各样新奇而隐晦的味道。他们收集样本带回来到实验室分析。

A: So, what, do they pinpoint the chemicals that make the flavors different?

是这样噢，然后他们精确地分析出各种不同味道的化学成份吗？

S: They sure do. The trick now, though, is they can stack flavors at a molecular level to create never-before experienced flavors.

正是。不过，现在他们的花招在于可以在分子的阶层堆栈新口味，重新制造出闻所未闻的味道来。

A: Like cool raspberry and spicy nacho cheese?

像是清凉的覆盆子口味和辛辣的墨西哥烤干酪玉米口味？

S: Exactly. These are some high-tech snacks!

就是嘛。这些可都是高科技零食呢！

A: Field research like that must be expensive.

像那样的实地研究一定所费不赀。

S: I suppose it’s worth the while because the flavor industry is huge.

我想它一定划得来，因为香料工业可是很庞大的。

A: You know what kind of technology I’d like right now?

妳知道我现在喜爱那一种科技吗？

S: I sure do. A robot that’d stock these shelves for you!

我当然知道。一个会替你整理货架的机器人！

A: Right. While I sit back and eat cool ranch chips!

正是。那我就能舒舒服服端坐着，享用清凉口味的牧场洋芋片了！

－by Mark Hamilton

Vocabulary

单词发音

stock [stɑk] v. (商店)存(货)

mind-blowing [ˋmaɪnd͵bloɪŋ] adj. 令人大为惊叹的

facility [fəˋsɪlətɪ] n. 设备，设施

turnpike [ˋtɝn͵paɪk] n.【美】收费高速公路

obscure [əbˋskjʊr] adj. 隐匿的; 模糊的

pinpoint [ˋpɪn͵pɔɪnt] v. 准确地确定

stack [stæk] v.（使）成堆; 摞起

raspberry [ˋræz͵bɛrɪ] n. 覆盆子，木莓

nacho [ˋnætʃo] n.（墨西哥人食用的）烤干酪辣味玉米片

worth one’s while  值得某人花时间(或精力)的

ranch [ræntʃ] n.（北美的）大牧场，大农场

Sentence of the Day

Added chemicals in our food provide food for thought.

在食品内添加化学成份的事值得三思。

food for thought  需要认真考虑的事; 引人沈思的事