The sense of smell, or olfaction, is powerful. Odours affect us on a physical, psychological and social level. For the most part, however, we breathe in the aromas which surround us without being consciously aware of their importance to us. It is only when the faculty of smell is impaired for some reason that we begin to realise the essential role the sense of smell plays in our sense of well-being
A 一项由Anthony Synott在蒙特利尔的Concordia大学开展的调查要求参与者评价一下嗅觉在他们的生活中的重要性。很明显，嗅觉能够唤起强烈的情感回应。某种和愉快经历相关的气味会带米欣喜之感；污浊的气味或与糟糕经历有关的气味则可能让人恶心得面部扭曲。这项调查的应答者们觉察到自身很多对嗅觉的好恶都基于情感联系。这样的联系在强到一定程度时．会让大众普遍不喜欢的气味变得令特定个体愉快，也会让大众公认为芬芳的气味变得让特定个体讨厌。因此，对于气味的感知不单单包括对其本身的感觉，也包括对与其相关的经历和情感的认知。
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AA survey conducted by Anthony Synott at Montreal's Concordia University asked participants to comment on how important smell was to them in their lives. It became apparent that smell can evoke strong emotional responses. A scent associated with a good experience can bring a rush of joy, while a foul odour or one associated with a bad memory may make us grimace with disgust. Respondents to the survey noted that many of their olfactory likes and dislikes were based on emotional associations. Such associations can be powerful enough so that odours that we would generally label unpleasant become agreeable, and those that we would generally consider fragrant become disagreeable for particular individuals. The perception of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them.
B 气味是社会联系的重要线索。一位接受调查的人认为，如果不去触碰和嗅闻你所爱的人或物，那么你们之间就没有建立起真正的情感联系。事实上，婴儿在出生后不久后就会辨识母亲的气味，成人也往往可以通过气味辨认自己的孩子或伴侣。在一项著名的测试中，被测女性和男性都能够仅通过气味在相同的衣物中区分自己的配偶穿过的衣服和其他人穿过的衣服。大部分被测者在参加测试之前，很有可能从来都没有意识到气味也能成为辨认家庭成员的线索。然而正如试验所揭示的，就算没有这样的意识，气味仍然会给人留下印象。
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BOdours are also essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent. In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people. Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register.
C 尽管嗅觉对我们的情感和感知生活都很重要，但它可能在很多文化中仍是最不受重视的官能。嗅觉遭受轻视的原因常常被归结为：相对于十分重视嗅觉功能的动物而言，人类的嗅觉功能较弱而且不发达。虽然人类的嗅觉确实不如某些动物的那样杰出，但是仍然相当敏锐。我们的鼻子能够分辨成千上万种气味，也可以感知极微量的气味。
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CIn spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped. While it is true that the olfactory powers of humans are nothing like as fine as those possessed by certain animals, they are still remarkably acute. Our noses are able to recognise thousands of smells, and to perceive odours which are present only in extremely small quantities.
D 然而，嗅觉是种非常难以捉摸的现象。气味与色彩不同，例如，在很多种语言中都很难给气味进行命名，这是因为特定的词汇根本不存在。我们想要描述某种气味时，只能说“它闻起来像……”，绞尽脑汁地表达我们的嗅觉感受。气味也无法记录：没有有效的方法能够捕获或长时间地保存气味。在嗅觉的领域，我们只能勉强依赖描述和回忆，这就涉及对嗅觉的研究。
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DSmell, however, is a highly elusive phenomenon. Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist. 'It smells like. . . , ' we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience. Nor can odours be recorded: there is no effective way to either capture or store them over time. In the realm of olfaction, we must make do with descriptions and recollections. This has implications for olfactory research.
E 迄今为止进行的多数关于嗅觉的研究都具有物理科学性质。对于气味的生化组成的了解已有了重要的发现，但是很多基本问题仍未得到解答。研究者们还需要判断嗅觉到底是一种还是两种感觉——一种感觉回应气味本身，另一种感觉记录空气中无味的化学成分。其他未解的问题包括鼻子是否唯一受气味影响的身体器官，以及如何客观地测量无形的气味。这样的问题意味着对于研究者来说，对嗅觉心理学的兴趣势必起到越来越重要的作用。
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EMost of the research on smell undertaken to date has been of a physical scientific nature. Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of olfaction, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered. Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two - one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air. Other unanswered questions are whether the nose is the only part of the body affected by odours, and how smells can be measured objectively given the nonphysical components. Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is inevitably set to play an increasingly important role for researchers.
F 然而，嗅觉并不只是一种生物学和心理学现象。嗅觉具有文化属性，因此也是一种社会学和历史学现象。嗅觉被赋予了文化价值：在有些文化中具有冒犯意味的气味到了其他文化中可能就变得可以为人所接受了。因此，我们的嗅觉是与世界进行互动的手段和模式。不同的气味能为我们提供私人的、感情充沛的经历，我们赋予这些经历的价值又会被社会成员以极个人的方式吸纳。重要的是，我们对气味所持有的共同感受能够帮助我们区分自身与其他文化群体。因此，对于气味的文化历史研究确实是深人人类文化本质的钻研。
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FHowever, smell is not simply a biological and psychological phenomenon. Smell is cultural, hence it is a social and historical phenomenon. Odours are invested with cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others. Therefore, our sense of smell is a means of, and model for, interacting with the world. Different smells can provide us with intimate and emotionally charged experiences and the value that we attach to these experiences is interiorised by the members of society in a deeply personal way. Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures. The study of the cultural history of smell is, therefore, in a very real sense, an investigation into the essence of human culture.