Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil. And I’m Beth.

你好。这里是BBC英语六分钟。我是尼尔。我是贝丝。

There are some well-known English expressions that make a link between seeing and eating.

有一些著名的英语表达把看和吃联系在一起。

‘Your eyes are bigger than your belly’ means you have taken more food than you can eat;

“你的眼睛瞪得比肚子还大”，意思是你吃了超出食量东西;

and the saying you eat with your eyes first means that food seems more desirable when it looks good on the plate.

“你用眼睛吃饭”这句话的意思是，当食物在盘子里的时候，看起来更令人垂涎。

But seeing isn’t the only sense involved in tasting food - in fact, it may not even be the most important.

但视觉并不是品尝食物的唯一感官——事实上，它甚至可能不是最重要的。

First, you see your favourite bacon sandwich, then comes its delicious smell, quickly followed by the crunchy feel and salty taste as you take a bite.

首先，你看到你最喜欢的培根三明治，然后闻到它的香味，接着是你咬一口时的脆感和咸味。

Now scientists are learning more about the power of another of our senses–sound–and how affects our sense of taste.

现在，科学家们正在更多地了解我们的另一种感官——听觉，以及它是如何影响我们的味觉的。

‘Sonic seasoning’ is the idea that when you hear certain sounds or music they can enhance one flavour or another in the food you’re eating.

“声音调味”是指当你听到某些声音或音乐时，它们可以增强你正在吃的食物的某一种味道。

In this programme we'll be eating with our ears as we investigate the link between sound and our tastebuds.

在本期节目中，我们将用耳朵“用餐”，同时探索听觉和味蕾之间的联系。

And, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

和往常一样，我们也会学到一些有用的新词汇。

But first I have a question for you, Beth.

但首先我有个问题要问你，贝丝。

The idea that sounds influence taste might seem strange, but the food-processing companies that produce some of our most familiar food and drinks have long known that sounds equal sales.

声音影响味道的想法可能看起来很奇怪，但生产我们最熟悉的一些食品和饮料的食品加工公司早就知道，声音等于销售。

In the UK, for example, the chocolate company, Cadbury, hired the London Contemporary Orchestra to perform classical music tunes symbolising each flavour of their Dairy Milk chocolates.

例如，在英国，巧克力公司吉百利聘请了伦敦当代管弦乐团，来演奏代表其牛奶巧克力每种口味的古典音乐曲调。

So, which background sound did whisky makers, Singletons, used to advertise their scotch whisky?

那么，威士忌制造商单身贵族用哪种背景音来宣传他们的苏格兰威士忌呢?

Was it: a) jazz music? b) bagpipes playing? or, c) birds tweeting?

是a)爵士音乐? b)风笛演奏? 还是c)鸟儿鸣叫?

I’ll guess they used some smooth jazz music.

我猜他们用了一些流畅的爵士音乐。

OK, Beth. I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

好吧，贝丝。稍后我将在节目中揭晓答案。

Charles Spence is professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University.

查尔斯·斯宾塞是牛津大学实验心理学教授。

After years studying how our brains process information, he believes sound plays a much bigger role in how we taste our food than we think, something he explained to Mike Johnson, presenter of BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain:

经过多年对大脑处理信息方式的研究，他认为声音在我们品尝食物的过程中所起的作用比我们想象的要大得多，他向BBC全球服务节目《食物链》的主持人迈克·约翰逊解释道:

In general how big a contribution do you think these sounds, and sound generally, actually makes to how we perceive food compared to the more obvious senses, of course, of sight and smell?

总的来说，你认为这些声音，以及通常的听觉，与视觉和嗅觉等更明显的感官相比，对我们感知食物的作用有多大?

So I think it's much more important than we realise, and that can start from before we’ve put anything into our mouth - it can be this sound of the sizzle of the steak on the hot plate, it can be the gurgle and the sizzle and the steam of the coffee machine… those are all cues that set up expectations about what we're about to taste.

我认为它比我们意识到的要重要得多，它可以在我们把任何东西放进嘴里之前就开始发挥作用——它可以是牛排在热盘子上的嘶嘶声，它可以是汩汩声、嘶嘶声和咖啡机的蒸汽声……这些都是我们对即将品尝到的东西产生期望的暗示。

Professor Spence uses onomatopoeia to describe some sounds.

斯宾塞教授用拟声词来描述一些声音。

Onomatopoeia is when a word sounds like what it means, words like 'buzz', ‘zoom’ and ‘whack’.

拟声词是指一个单词的发音与它的意思相符，比如“buzz”、“zoom”和“whack”。

He uses the word sizzle for the hissing sound made by frying meat, and describes a coffee machine using the word gurgle - the low pleasant sound liquids make when flowing quickly through a narrow space.

他用“sizzle”来形容煎肉时发出的嘶嘶声，用“gurgle”来形容咖啡机——液体在狭窄的空间里快速流动时发出的低沉悦耳的声音。

Professor Spence thinks that hearing these sounds while eating psychologically intensifies the flavours of food.

斯宾塞教授认为，在吃东西时听到这些声音会在心理上强化食物的味道。

But it's not just psychologists… the food industry has also discovered the selling power of sound.

但不仅仅是心理学家，食品行业也发现了声音的销售能力。

Nowadays restaurants everywhere are carefully selecting the music they play on their dining-room playlists.

如今，各地的餐馆都在精心挑选播放列表上播放的音乐。

Reporter, Gianna Palmer, visited New York restaurant, Smashburger, where every song is specially chosen by professional music pickers.

记者吉安娜·帕尔默造访了纽约一家名为压扁汉堡的餐厅，那里的每首歌都是由专业的音乐挑选者专门挑选的。

Here she interviews one of them, Amy Frishkey, head of music design company, Mood Media, for BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain:

在BBC世界服务节目《食物链》中，她采访了音乐设计公司情绪媒体的负责人艾米·弗里什基。

Music just kind of has the ability to put you in a different space and a lot of times, then your mood could lead to an impulse buy that you didn't plan on…

音乐就是有一种能力，它把你带到一个不同的空间，很多时候，你的情绪可能会导致你在没有计划的情况下冲动购买……

You're having such a good time eating out, ‘oh, I'll get dessert!” ’

你在外面吃得这么开心，“哦，我还想吃甜点！”

Yeah right… I'm really enjoying the music, I think I'll linger here a bit longer.

是的……我真的很喜欢这里的音乐，我想我会在这里多待一会儿。

Choosing the right dining-room music not only makes food taste better, it puts people in a good mood - something which might lead to an impulse buy–suddenly buying something you had not planned to because you want it when you see it.

选择合适的餐厅音乐不仅能让食物更美味，还能让人心情愉悦——这可能会导致冲动购买——突然购买你没有计划购买的东西，因为你一看到它就想买。

What’s more, a good restaurant atmosphere encourages customers to linger–to stay longer than necessary because they’re having a good time.

更重要的是，良好的餐厅氛围会鼓励顾客逗留——因为他们玩得很开心，所以逗留的时间比应有的长。

Of course, the longer customers linger and the more they buy on impulse, the more money a restaurant makes.

当然，顾客逗留的时间越长，冲动消费的次数越多，餐馆赚的钱就越多。

I think it's time you revealed the answer to your question, Neil.

我想是时候揭晓问题的答案了，尼尔。

You asked me which background sound drinks company, Singletons, used to advertise their whisky.

你问我单身贵族饮料公司用哪种背景音来宣传他们的威士忌。

I guessed it was jazz music… so was I right?

我猜是爵士音乐，我猜对了吗?

That was… the wrong answer I'm afraid, Beth.

恐怕你回答错了，贝丝。

In fact, Singletons used the sound of birds tweeting to sell their whisky - probably a better idea than using bagpipes!

事实上，单身贵族用鸟儿鸣叫的声音来销售他们的威士忌——这可能比用风笛更好!

OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme on sonic seasoning starting with the English saying, you eat with your eyes first, an idiom meaning that when food is visually appealing, it's more appetizing.

好了，让我们回顾一下本期节目中关于声音调味的词汇，从英语谚语“你用眼睛吃饭”开始，这是一个习语，意思是当食物看起来很吸引人的时候，它就更开胃。

Onomatopoeia is when words sound like what they mean, for example ‘boom’, ‘whack’ and ‘moo’.

拟声词是指单词的发音与其意思相近，例如“boom”、“whack”和“moo”。

Other examples of onomatopoeia are sizzle - a hissing sound, and gurgle–the low pleasant sound a liquid makes when it flows quickly through a narrow space.

其他的拟声词还有sizzle（咝咝声）和gurgle（汩汩声）——液体快速流过狭窄空间时发出的低沉悦耳的声音。

An impulse buy is suddenly buying something that you had not planned to because you want it when you see it.

冲动购买是指你突然买了一些你没有打算买的东西，因为你一看到它就想拥有。

And finally the verb to linger means to stay somewhere longer than necessary because you’re enjoying yourself.

最后一个动词“逗留”的意思是在某个地方逗留的时间比必要的时间长，因为你过的很愉快。

Once again our six minutes are up.

我们的六分钟时间又到了。

Join us next time for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at Six Minute English.

欢迎下期收听六分钟英语，了解更多流行话题和有用词汇。

Goodbye everyone! Bye!

大家再见！再见！