新感官看世界：全球十大“气味之城”(图)

 

　　　1. Los Angeles洛杉矶

　　L.A. is one of the most bizarre places on Earth, and it has an equally singular smell. The clear, alluring track of its scent is arresting. There's the ocean breeze from Santa Monica that can travel as far East as Silver Lake; a dry desert air that comes West over Downtown and South Central; the astringent balm of eucalyptus, pine, honeysuckle, and jasmine from the hills; and car exhaust from catalytic converters, which is, in its strange industrial way, beautiful. It's like the jolt of a drug: shifting, comforting, cool like a blanket. The lonely smell of the marine layer burns off and you get this flashy perfume of hot asphalt, engines, and sun block that you can find nowhere but in L.A。

　　洛杉矶是世界上最奇异的地方之一，它同样有一种奇特的气味。清晰、诱人的气味十分吸引人。从圣莫妮卡吹来的微风能够将气味带到很远的地方；从西部中心地区和南方中部地区沙漠的带来的干燥空气；从山上吹来桉树、松树和金银花的酸涩芳香，还有茉莉花的芬芳；从汽车的催化转换器中排除的废气，带有一种怪异的工业美感。如同一味五味陈杂的药：不断变换又带来舒适的感觉。你可以嗅到澎湃的海洋带来的孤独气息，以及热沥青、引擎和防晒乳液的混合的味道，除了洛杉矶，没有任何地方拥有这种味道。

　　　2. Pleasantville, NY纽约欢乐谷

　　Money changes the smell of everything, and wealthy towns where people who want to flee New York's asphalt canyons go to have gardens and lawns have scents as restricted as the covenants guarding their real estate values. Maple, oak, and pine smell cyclically different as the seasons turn, and Pleasantville's scent is based on these trees and their leaves at all stages—green, yellow, dead brown, and budding. When you close your eyes you get grass and then the smell of "America as it was," whenever that might mean for your nose. If Normal Rockwell's paintings emitted a scent, this is what it would be。

　　金钱改变一切气味，富裕的城镇中，人们想逃离纽约这座柏油峡谷，这里的花园和草坪十分有限，气味十分有限。枫树、橡树和松树的味道随着四季的交替而不同，欢乐谷的气味和这些树以及所有生命阶段——绿色、黄色、枯萎以及刚刚萌芽的叶子息息相关。当你闭上眼睛，就能感觉到草丛，然后就能体会到“美国就是这个味儿”，如果诺曼·洛克威尔(Norman Rockwell)的画作会能散发出气味，那就一定是这种味道。

　　　3. New Orleans新奥尔良

　　In my opinion, you could win the debate over whether Florida is part of the South just based on its smell. (It's not。) Meanwhile, New Orleans exudes the South's signature perfume from every street corner. It's a thick, soporific scent of humidity penetrating wood porches and plaster walls; dead moss; and the Mississippi's fresh water colliding with the brine of the Gulf. Old beer, frying fat, mud, and lush grass are all in there, too。

　　在我看来，多数人仅根据气息便将佛罗里达划定为南方(其实它并不属于南方)。同时，新奥尔良的每个角落都流露出南方的典型气息，透过潮湿木材门廊和墙壁的一种厚重又具有催眠作用的气息；已死的青苔；密西西比河淡水与盐水相遇的海湾。老啤酒、油炸肥肉、泥以及茂盛的草丛也都在那里。

　　4. San Francisco旧金山

　　Limited to its peninsula, San Francisco's scent is as sharply defined as its borders: soft clouds, smooth pine, sharp eucalyptus, and cold ocean. Depending on where you go, you can add to that mix grass and the heather-like smell of scrub (the hills)； old wood used in the housing stock (especially on the block where the Painted Ladies stand)； and a weird dry dampness that is cool and a little isolating. Sometimes the city's perfume is mixed with the heady scent of dry California desert. It may be the most beautiful-smelling skyline in the world。

　　因为受到半岛地形的影响，旧金山的气味和它的边界一样分明：柔软的云，光滑的松木，锋利的桉树，和冰冷的海洋。你去往不同的地方，便会混合草和石南的气味；家用的历经沧桑的木材(尤其是那些脂粉聚集之处)的气味；奇怪的燥湿气味，凉爽又有些冷漠。有时，城市的气味还混合了干燥的加利福尼亚沙漠的醉人香味。它可能是世界上气味最棒的地方。

　　5. Rome罗马

　　I don't know of any other city as redolent of the Old World as Rome. Not Milan, not Madrid, not Budapest. Not even Naples, perhaps just because Naples has the ocean air to purify its notorious fragrance (salt water cleans everything from wounds to smells). Invisible Rome is gorgeous. Like the classic Italian masculine colognes of the 1950s, it's a particular style, and you have to like it, but if you do, the act of breathing is a real trip. The ancient walls give off a slightly dirty, sometimes greasy smell full of cedar and car and bus exhaust. Most concisely, it smells like L.A., but with 2,000-year-old stone and 500-year-old palazzi, peeling paint, and espresso-spiked decadence。

　　我不知道还有没有其他城市像罗马一样散发着旧世界的气息。米兰、马德里、布达佩斯，甚至连那不勒斯也没有，或许只是因为那不勒斯的海洋气息净化了它声名狼藉的空气(盐水能够清洗伤口，也能够清洗气味)。罗马的气息是一个用眼看不到的世界，如同20世纪50年代经典的意大利男性古龙水，是一种独特的风格，而且你必须喜欢它，但是如果你真的喜欢它，呼吸便成为一场真正的旅行。古老的城墙散发出一种带有些许尘土的气息，有时还有油腻味十足的雪松和汽车废气的气味。更简单的说，它闻起来像洛杉矶，但是还混杂着拥有2000年历史的石头和500年历史的宫殿、剥落的油漆以及浓烈的意大利特浓咖啡的颓废气息。

　　6. Bogotá波哥大

　　Latin America smells of the 1950s; for instance, stroll around the Recoleta in Buenos Aires, and it's like time travel. (For the record, though, I wasn't alive then). Along with that mid-twentieth century smell, Bogotá's aroma is like a new car, concrete, and aftershave—a product of the bustling downtown business district. It's strange but you can also detect the altitude—8,612 feet above sea level—because of the exotic wind, rain, and greenery that rises from the Andes in the East。

　　拉丁美洲的气味与二十世纪五十年代十分相似；比如在布宜诺斯艾利斯的雷克莱塔漫步时，就如同一场时光旅行。(当然，那时我还没出生)。波哥大充斥着二十世纪中期的气息，就像新车、混凝土、须后水的混杂气味，非常奇异。但是由于遥远的东方安第斯山脉带来的风雨和植物，你还可以感受到8612英尺海拔的高度。

　　7. Mumbai孟买

　　I have no patience for the whiny American fear of strong smells. Suck it up. Otherwise you'll miss out on Mumbai, which is one of the most intense and rewarding olfactory experiences on Earth. It's kind of like Avatar for your nose. Everywhere you turn, the thick, penetrating scent of unfiltered motor exhaust and water in gutters lingers. There's the salty smell of ocean mixed with tropical rot, air conditioning, and frying palm oil. And, it's India, so your nose also picks up on incense and every spice imaginable—cinnamon, cardamom, clove. It's the smell of a vibrant city on the move。

　　我非常不理解美国人对浓烈味道的抱怨。用力呼吸，否则你就会错过在地球上气味最浓烈的嗅觉之旅目的地——孟买。就像鼻子的化身。无论去往何处，扑面而来的都是未经过滤的发动机废气和废水的厚重又极具穿透性的气息。海水的咸味混合着热带腐朽的味道，还有空调、煎炸棕榈油的气味。而且，这里是印度，所以你的鼻子同时闻得到焚香味道，以及任何穷极想象的香料——肉桂，豆蔻，丁香等。这是一个充满活力的移动城市特有的气息。

　　8. Mombasa蒙巴萨

　　I was only in Mombasa for an afternoon, and what struck me was the scent of rough terra cotta baked by the sun, and a dry-ish tropical air that is common in February when I was there. I'm told the smell radically intensifies in the summer when the rains come and things are more green, although Mombasa is never apparently lush. One of my strongest sense memories was of the four-bare-walled stores the Mijikendas and Swahilis kept. They used fluorescent lights, so they had that distinct metallic, old-ish smell places that use fluorescents always have. I could also detect palm oil, the cement dust from the streets, and these strange spices I had never smelled and haven't smelled since。

　　我在肯尼亚蒙巴萨只停留了一个下午，晒制而成的陶器的气味给我留下了深刻的印象，时值二月的干热空气也十分常见。我了解到在雨季来临之前气味会扩大，城市中的绿色也更加鲜明，尽管平时的蒙巴萨的植被丝毫不茂盛。我最强烈的感官记忆之一当地人开的四面裸墙的店铺，他们使用荧光灯，所以便有着独特的金属气息。使用荧光灯的地方总是充斥着老旧的气息。我还能在街上闻到棕榈油、水泥粉尘的味道，这些奇怪的香料我从未在其他地方遇到。

　　9. London伦敦

　　I agree with Samuel Johnson's oft-quoted "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford," and while being able to afford London is no small feat, if you just walk the streets, the scent of the city, at least, is free. Mist, rain, peppermint, wet pavement. You can smell the Thames and leather seats and aged Persian rugs. Thank Christ, there's much less cigarette fumes these days. Some people complain that London is a gray scent, but what they smell is actually the opalescent energy of Britain。

　　我同意塞缪尔·约翰逊经常引用的一句话——“一个人如果厌倦了伦敦，那他就厌倦了生活；因为伦敦有人生能赋予的一切。”虽然在伦敦的生活需要大笔的开支，如果你仅仅走在街上，至少城市的气味——雾、雨、薄荷以及潮湿路面是免费的。你能闻到泰晤士河、真皮座椅以及老化的波斯地毯的味道。值得庆幸的是，这些天的香烟味少了很多。有些人抱怨说，伦敦的味道十分灰暗，但他们闻到的实际上是来自英国的乳白色能量。

　　10. Dallas达拉斯

　　Cities, like people, have their own smell, their own body odors and perfumes that take on personalities. Dallas is one of the strangest scents I have ever encountered. Highways of strip malls and gas stations and exit signs. Insanely wide streets. It's very New World-smelling. It almost has a non-scent scent. Like many cities, you get concrete, car exhaust, and dust. If you really focus, you can pick up on the nearly undetectable Texas live oak. It's best during thunderstorms, though. The crisp smell of lightning and rain and vast flat space pervades and takes on a three-dimensional quality。

　　城市和人一样，有着它们自己独特的气味和特点。达拉斯的气味是我遇到的最奇特气味之一。大商场和加油站和高速公路的出口标志，异常宽阔的街道，都带着新世界的气息。它几乎有一种没有气味的气味。和很多城市一样，你闻得到混凝土、汽车尾气和粉尘。如果认真感受，你能嗅到微不可闻的德克萨斯橡树，但在雷雨天气时效果最佳。闪电、雨和巨大的空间互相交织，呈现出一种十分清晰的清脆气味。