拥有超级味觉的人

Some people love spicy2 foods. Others can’t stand them. Scientists now thinkthey know why. A new study found that there are three groups of tasters3. Theyare non-tasters， medium-tasters， and super-tasters.

有些人喜欢辛辣的食物，其他人则忍受不了。科学家现在认为自己知道原因了。一项新的研究发现有三组品尝者，即迟钝品尝者、中等品尝者和超级品尝者。

The number of taste buds4 on the tasters’tongues5 is the most importantthing to think about in the study. Some people do not have very many taste buds.Other people have a lot. If you count the number of taste buds on people’stongues， it will be different from one person to another.

舌头上味蕾的数量是研究中需要考虑的最关键的一点。有些人没有很多味蕾，而其他人有很多。如果你数一数一个人舌头上的味蕾数量，就会发现情况因人而异。

Go ahead！ Count how many you have in a 1cm by 1 cm square. Non-tasters have about fivetaste buds， while super-tasters have about thirty！

去吧！数一数在1 厘米乘以1 厘米大小的正方形里你有多少个味蕾。迟钝品尝者大约有五个味蕾，而超级品尝者大约有30 个！

Scientists also noticed that there were three times asmany super-taster women as men. About 35% of all womenare super-tasters. On the other hand， only 10% of men aresuper-tasters.

科学家还注意到，味觉超级敏锐的女性是男性的三倍。大约35%的女性是超级品尝者。另一方面，只有10%的男性是超级品尝者。

What’s more， super -tasters are more sensitive6 to akind of bitter chemical7. Foods such as grapefruit， chocolate， and coffee have alot of it in them. These foods are hard for super-tasters to eat. Medium-tastersdo not mind eating such bitter foods. And non-tasters hardly notice any bittertaste at all.

此外，超级品尝者对某一种苦味化学物质更加敏感，像葡萄柚、巧克力和咖啡这样的食物大量含有这种物质。这些食物对于超级品尝者来说很难吃。中等品尝者不介意吃这几种苦味的食物。迟钝品尝者几乎察觉不到任何苦味。

People who are picky8 with food are usually healthier because they can findout which food might be bad for them more easily. This skill was very useful inthe days we used to live in the jungle9， so we would not eat poisoned10 foods.

挑食的人通常更健康，因为他们更容易发现哪些食物可能对自己有害。这种技能在过去我们生活在丛林里的时候非常有用，这样我们才不会把有毒的食物吃下去。