TED演讲：气味背后的科学(1)

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　　It's a fragrance called Beyond Paradise, which you can find in any store in the nation.  这款香水叫做“霓采天堂”，在全国各大商场都能买到。

　　Except here it's been split up in parts by Estée Lauder and by the perfumer who did it, Calice Becker,  但是今天在这里香水被分解成几部分，这项工作是由雅诗兰黛公司和香水调配者凯莉斯·贝克尔完成的，

　　and I'm most grateful to them for this. And it's been split up in successive bits and a chord. 我十分感谢他们。香水被分解成连续的几个小部分和一个香水和弦。

　　So what you're smelling now is the top note.  现在你们闻到的是香水的“前味”。

　　And then will come what they call the heart, the lush heart note.  接下来是“中味”甜味香料。

　　I will show it to you. The Eden top note is named after the Eden Project in the U.K.. 我展示给你们看“前味”伊甸清雾是根据英国的伊甸园计划命名的。

　　The lush heart note, Melaleuca bark note -- which does not contain any Melaleuca bark, because it's totally forbidden. “中味”甜味香料还有“后味”白千层树树皮--其中并不含白千层树树皮，因为那是被禁止的。

　　And after that, the complete fragrance.  最后就是完整的香味了。

　　Now what you are smelling is a combination of -- I asked how many molecules² there were in there, and nobody would tell me.  现在你们闻到的是一个组合，如果我想问组合里有多少个分子，没有人可以告诉我。

　　So I put it through a G.C., a Gas Chromatograph that I have in my office, and it's about 400.  于是我用我办公室里的气相色谱仪做了一下检测，发现大约有400个。

　　So what you're smelling is several hundred molecules floating through the air, hitting your nose. 所以你们现在闻到的是几百个分子弥漫在空气中，钻进你的鼻子里。

　　And do not get the impression that this is very subjective³.  不要觉得气味是十分主观的。

　　You are all smelling pretty much the same thing, OK?  你们闻到的差不多都是一样的。

　　Smell has this reputation of being somewhat different for each person.  人们总是认为同一种气味对不同的人来说是不一样的。

　　It's not really true. And perfumery shows you that can't be true, because if it were like that it wouldn't be an art, OK? 这个想法并不正确。一款香水就会证明的确不是这样的，因为那样的话制造香水就不算一门艺术了。

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