Passage Twenty-six (Sensory¹ Evaluation² of Food)

   A Polish proverb claims that fish, to taste right, should three times—in water, in butter and in wine. The early efforts of the basic scientists in the food industry were directed at improving the preparation, preservation³, and distribution of safe and nutritious⁴ food. Our memories of certain foodstuffs⁵ eaten during the World War II suggest that, although these might have been safe and nutritious, they certainly did not taste right nor were they particularly appetizing in appearance or smell. This neglect of the sensory appeal of foods is happily becoming a thing of the past. Bow, in the book “Principles of Sensory Evaluation of Food,” the authors hope that it will be useful to food technologists in industry and also to others engaged in research into problem of sensory evaluation of foods. An attempt has clearly been make to collect every possible piece of information, which might be useful, more than one thousand five hundred references being quoted. As a result, the book seems at first sight to be an exhaustive and critically useful review of the literature. This it certainly is, but this is by no means is its only achievement, for there are many suggestions for further lines of research, and the discursive⁶ passages are crisply provocative⁷ of new ideas and new ways of looking at established findings.

   Of particular interest is the weight given to the psychological aspects of perception, both objectively and subjectively⁹. The relation between stimuli¹⁰ and perception is well covered, and includes a valuable discussion of the uses and disadvantages of the Weber fraction of differences. It is interesting to find that in spite of many attempts to separate and define the modalities of taste, nothing better has been achieved than the familiar classification into sweet, sour salty and bitter. Nor is there as yet any clear-cut evidence of the physiological¹¹ nature of the taste stimulus¹². With regard to smell, systems of classification are of little value because of the extraordinary sensitivity of the nose and because the response to the stimulus is so subjective⁸. The authors suggest that a classification based on the size, shape and electronic status of the molecule¹³ involved merits further investigation¹⁴, as does the theoretical proposition that weak physical binding¹⁵ of the stimulant¹⁶ molecule to he receptor site is a necessary part of the mechanism¹⁷ of stimulation¹⁸.

   Apart from taste and smell, there are many other components¹⁹ of perception of the sensations from food in the mouth. The basic modalities of pain, cold, warmth and touch, together with vibration²⁰ sense, discrimination and localization may all play a part, as, of course, does auditory reception of bone-conducted vibratory stimuli from the teeth when eating crisp or crunchy foods. In this connection the authors rightly point out that this type of stimulus requires much more investigation, suggesting that a start might be made by using subjects afflicted²¹ with various forms of deafness. It is well-known that extraneous²² noise may alter discrimination, and the attention of the authors is directed to the work of Prof. H. J. Eysenck on the “stimulus hunger” of extroverts²³ and the “stimulus avoidance” of introverts²⁴.

 

1.       The reviewer uses a Polish proverb at the beginning of the article in order to

[A]. introduce, in an interesting manner, the discussion of food.

[B]. show the connection between food and nationality of food.

[C]. indicate that there are various ways to prepare food.

[D]. impress upon the reader the food value of fish.

2.       The reviewers appraisal²⁵ of “Principles of Sensory Evaluation of Food” is one of

[A]. mixed feelings.               [B]. indifference²⁶

[C]. high praise.                  [D]. faint praise.

3.       The writer of the article does not express the view, either directly or by implication, that

[A]. sharply defined classifications of taste are needed.

[B]. more research should be done regarding the molecular²⁷ constituency of food.

[C]. food values are objectively determined²⁸ by an expert “smeller”.

[D]. temperature is an important factor in the value of food.

4.       The authors of the book suggest the use of deaf subject because

[A]. deaf people are generally introversive²⁹.

[B]. the auditory sense is an important factor in food evaluation.

[C]. they are more fastidious in their choice of foods.

[D]. All types of subjects should be used.

 

Vocabulary

1.           preservation                      保鲜，保存

2.           sensory appeal                    感官的魅力

3.           be provocative of                  脱颖而出

4.           exhaustive                       详尽的，无遗漏的

5.           discursive                        推论的

6.           be provocative of                  引起……争论/兴趣等的

7.           crisp                            有力的，有劲的

8.           perception                       感觉，知觉，直觉

9.           modality                         方式

          modality of taste      （味）感觉到

10.        discrimination                     鉴别力

11.        localization                       地区性，定位

12.        merit                            值得……，有……价值

13.        crunchy                          嘎吱作响的

14.        extraneous                        外部的

15.        extrovert                         外向性格的人

16.        introvert                         内项性格的人

 

难句译注

1.       although these might have been safe and nutritious, they certainly did not taste right nor were they particularly appetizing in appearance or smell.

[结构简析] in appearance or smell 应译成：色或香。

[参考译文] 虽然这些饭菜可能是安全又有营养，但是肯定味不正，特别是在色，香上难以增进食欲。

2.       This it certainly is, but this is by no means is its only achievement, for there are many suggestions for further lines of research, and the discursive passages are crisply provocative of new ideas and new ways of looking at established findings.

[结构简析] 复合句。This 指前一句内容：书既详细又是对有关食品学的文字做了十分有用的评论……。 Be provocative of 引起……争论或兴趣。

[参考译文] 确实如此，可是这并不是书的唯一成就，因为书内有许多关于进一步研究范围的建议。推论性篇章及能令人非常感兴趣的看待现存成果的新观点和新方法。

3.       The relation between stimuli and perception is well covered, and includes a valuable discussion of the uses and disadvantages of the Weber fraction of differences.

Weber fraction 为Ernest Heinrich Weber所著，他生于1795年，死与1878，是德国生理学家。

[参考译文] 书中详细论及刺激和感觉的关系。还包括了一篇很有价值的讨论文章：谈论威伯分数在评价差异上的缺点和实用性。

 

写作方法和文章大意

   这是一篇介绍“感官评价食品的原理“一书的序言。评者从书的读者对象，书的篇幅到内涵具体涉及片谈起，从主观到客观论证，采用例子和对比说明。第一段全面介绍，点出此书不同于过去的书。它们都把重点放在改善准备，保养和销售上。此书信息多，引证参考资料多，对今后研究有新建议； 对已有成果有新关点。第二段，从客观到主观的论述味觉，嗅觉并加以对比。第三段从众多其它感觉中，以听觉为重点论证。

 

答案祥解

1.       A. 以有趣的方式开始介绍食品讨论。文章一开始，评者就用“波兰有一谚语说，鱼，要想品味正，应游泳三次——在水里游，在油里游和在酒中游。”这是国外广告式论说文经常才用的一种写作方式。目的是吸引读者，激起他们想读下去的欲望，以达到推广作用。

B. 表明食品和国籍的关系。      C. 表明有各种准备食品的方法。     D. 加深读者对鱼的价值的影响，三项都不对。

2.       C. 评价高。评论者当然对此书评价极高，这是序言的必然途径。贬的就是批评文章了。全篇文章也说明这点。

3.       C. 食品价值由专家的嗅觉客观决定。这和第二段后半段的内涵有联系。他说，味道可分甜，酸，咸辣，而味觉生理性却无明确无误的证据。“至于（嗅觉）闻，由于鼻子特别灵敏，对外界刺激的反映主观性强，所以任何分类体系均无价值。”作者建议以“大小，形状和涉及分子电子态为基础的分类值得进一步探讨研究，就像理论性前提一样。刺激物分子和受体之间弱的物理结合是刺激生理机能的必要组成部分。”这段文章谈到味觉，嗅觉但并没有直接或间接表达这种观点：食品的价值是通过专家的嗅觉客观判定。

A. 需要明确无误的味觉分类。酸，咸，辣就是味觉的分类。     B. 有关食品分子构成进行更多研究。文内也讲到有关分子电子态应进一步研究。   D.  温度是食品评价中的一个因素。文内只在第三段提到了“除了味觉，嗅觉外，口中食品还有其他许多种感觉成分，基本为疼，冷，热，触碰以及震动感，鉴别力和地区性都可能起作用。“作者直接说明热是可能有作用的。

4.       B. 听觉在食品评价中是一个重要因素。这在第三段内提到。除了味觉和嗅觉外，口中食品还会产生许多其它感觉。基本可分为痛，冷，热，触碰以及震动感，鉴别力和地区性都可能起作用。就像在吃脆硬或嘎嘎作响的食品时，听觉接受了来自牙齿骨操纵的震动刺激。在这方面，作者真确指出这种刺激需进行更多探讨研究，建议运用受各种听不见痛苦折磨的  病人作起点研究。众所周知，外部的噪声会改变分辨力和注意力。“这说明B. 听觉在食品评价中起着重要作用。是对的。

A. 聋子一般是内项的。        C. 他们在选择食品时很挑剔。      D. 各种物体都应当应用。都和本文无关。

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