科学美国人60秒:异类蚂蚁闻起来像臭芝士-托福听力下载

　　科学美国人60秒中文翻译：

　　A common response to seeing an ant inside your house is to stomp on it. 看到家里有蚂蚁的第一反应通常都是马上把它们踩扁。

　　But if you crush a member of the ant species Tapinoma sessile, you might catch a whiff of a strange smell 但如果命丧你脚底的是一种臭蚂蚁，那你就会沾染一点怪味。

　　a smell that reminds some people of blue cheese, rancid butter or rotten coconut. 这种味道会让人想到臭芝士、腐臭牛油或烂椰子。

　　In fact, the smell is so noticeable that the insect's common name is the odorous house ant. 事实上正是这样的显著气味让这种蚂蚁有了家中味道蚂蚁的名号。

　　And many people call it the coconut ant. 而且还有许多人管它叫椰子蚂蚁。

　　In an effort to figure out why people have these reactions, researchers enlisted visitors at an event called the North Carolina BugFest. 为了探究人们为何存在这样的反应，研究人员从北卡罗来纳州的虫子聚会爱好者中邀请到了一些志愿者。

　　One-hundred-forty-three volunteers smelled smushed ants and were asked to identify the scent from four choices:blue cheese, rancid butter, rotten coconut or just other. 143名志愿者先从嗅觉上感受被踩扁的蚂蚁，而后被要求从臭芝士、腐臭牛油、烂椰子等味道中进行辨别。

　　Although Web sites overwhelmingly call the smell rotten coconut, 虽然绝大多数网站称这种味道是烂椰子，

　　almost 40 percent of the human judges picked blue cheese and about 25 percent picked rotten coconut. 但40%的志愿者选择臭芝士、而25%则选择了烂椰子。

　　More than 30 percent went with the choice of other. 而超过30%的志愿者选择其他味道。

　　The scientists then analyzed the chemicals responsible for the ant odor, as well as the smelly chemicals in blue cheese, fresh coconut and coconut buried underground for three days. 而后研究人员分别对掌控蚂蚁气味、臭芝士、新鲜椰子以及埋在地下3天烂椰子气味的化学物质进行了分析。

　　It turns out that the chemistry of the ants' scent is indeed similar to that of blue cheese and rotten coconut. 事实证明掌控蚂蚁气味的化学物质确实与臭芝士及烂椰子气味的成分类似。

　　But not to fresh coconut. 但却与新鲜椰子截然不同。

　　And the researchers note that the Penicillium microbes that turn coconut oil rancid are also involved in the production of blue cheese. 研究人员发现使椰子油变臭的青霉菌在臭芝士中也能发现。

　　The study is in the journal American Entomologist. 这项研究已在《美国昆虫学家》期刊上发表。

　　The researchers also noted that the most common write-in candidate as a description for the ants' aroma was cleaning spray. 研究人员还指出关于这种蚂蚁最常见的描述就是清洁喷雾。

　　And one little girl told them that the ants smelled exactly like her doctor. 而一个小女孩告诉他们这种蚂蚁闻起来简直就像是她的医生。

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