I still remember some of the experiments we did in school. One day, we wore a blindfold(眼罩) to pretend to be blind(瞎的). Then, on another day, we wore headphones to experience being deaf(聋的). But I don't remember talking about not having a sense(感觉) of smell. In fact, I didn't know that some people couldn't smell until I met Max Christian. Christian was born without a sense of smell. This condition is called anosmia. In the United States alone, more than two million people have anosmia.
So what is life like for these people? Well, having no sense of smell means a loss of taste. To taste foods, we need not only our tongues but also our noses—to smell the foods. "Water, apple juice, coffee. I can never tell the difference between their tastes!" Christian says.
Life also gets a lot more dangerous without a sense of smell. Think of the times you've left something on the oven for too long. The first sign(标志) of danger that an anosmic person is able to notice is the smoke(烟).
Like Christian, many anosmic people are born with the condition. Since they can never smell, they never miss smells. But some people get anosmia later in life. Most of these people become depressed about losing their sense of smell. Alice Cox became anosmic after a head hit years ago." I miss the smell of my son's hair and the smell of flowers, "she says. "I've lost an important part of my life that is common to everyone else."
