你知道舌头也有自己的“地图”吗？能品尝出“甜”味的味蕾位于舌尖；“咸”味味蕾位于舌头前部的一侧；“酸”味味蕾在“咸”味味蕾的后面；“苦”味味蕾在舌头的后半部分。据说葡萄酒杯就可以测试出这样的舌头味觉部位安排。

The Claim: Tongue Is Mapped Into Four Areas of Taste

High school textbooks call it the tongue map — that colorful illustration that neatly divides the human tongue into sections according to taste receptors. There is the tip of the tongue for sweet, the sides for sour and salty, and the back of the tongue for bitter. But recent studies show that while scientists still have much to learn about receptors, the map, at least, is wrong.

What is known is that there are at least five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and the most recently discovered, umami. This last flavor, which means “savory” in Japanese, can be detected in miso, soy sauce and other Asian foods, particularly those that contain monosodium glutamate(味精). And scientists suspect that there are receptors for other flavors as well.

In a study published in the journal Nature in 2006, a team of scientists reported that receptors for the basic tastes are found in distinct cells, and that these cells are not localized but spread throughout the tongue. That said, other studies suggest that some parts may be more sensitive to certain flavors, and that there may be differences in the way men and women detect sour, salty and bitter flavors.

（来源：纽约时报网站 英语点津Jennifer编辑）