The Meaning And Power Of Smell — IELTS Reading Answers

Paragraph A

“The perception of smell, therefore, consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them”

Paragraph A says smell perception 'consists not only of the sensation of the odours themselves, but of the experiences and emotions associated with them', a heading on that wider perception.

Paragraph B

“Odours are also essential cues in social bonding. One respondent to the survey believed that there is no true emotional bonding without touching and smelling a loved one. In fact, infants recognise the odours of their mothers soon after birth and adults can often identify their children or spouses by scent”

Paragraph B shows smell as 'essential cues in social bonding', with infants recognising mothers' odours and adults identifying spouses by scent — a heading on smell and relationships.

Paragraph C

“In spite of its importance to our emotional and sensory lives, smell is probably the most undervalued sense in many cultures. The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped”

Paragraph C calls smell 'the most undervalued sense in many cultures' because it is thought 'feeble and undeveloped', so its heading is about that low regard.

Paragraph D

“Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist. 'It smells like ', we have to say when describing an odour, struggling to express our olfactory experience”

Paragraph D says odours 'cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist', so its heading concerns the difficulty of describing smell.

Paragraph E

“Questions like these mean that interest in the psychology of smell is inevitably set to play an increasingly important role for researchers”

Paragraph E concludes that 'interest in the psychology of smell is... set to play an increasingly important role for researchers', so its heading looks to future research priorities.

Paragraph F

“Importantly, our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures”

Paragraph F argues 'our commonly held feelings about smells can help distinguish us from other cultures', so its heading concerns smell as a cultural marker.

According to the introduction, we become aware of the importance of smell when

1. Awe discover a new smell.
2. Bwe experience a powerful smell.
3. Cour ability to smell is damaged.correct
4. Dwe are surrounded by odours.

“It is only when the faculty of smell is impaired for some reason that we begin to realise the essential role the sense of smell plays in our sense of well-being”

'Only when the faculty of smell is impaired' do we realise its role, which is option C: awareness comes when smelling is damaged.

The experiment described in paragraph B

1. Ashows how we make use of smell without realising it.correct
2. Bdemonstrates that family members have a similar smell.
3. Cproves that a sense of smell is learnt.
4. Dcompares the sense of smell in males and females.

“Most of the subjects would probably never have given much thought to odour as a cue for identifying family members before being involved in the test, but as the experiment revealed, even when not consciously considered, smells register”

Subjects had never thought about odour as a cue, yet 'even when not consciously considered, smells register', so the experiment shows unconscious use — A.

What is the writer doing in paragraph C?

1. Asupporting other research
2. Bmaking a proposal
3. Crejecting a common beliefcorrect
4. Ddescribing limitations

“The reason often given for the low regard in which smell is held is that, in comparison with its importance among animals, the human sense of smell is feeble and undeveloped.”

The writer states the common belief that human smell is 'feeble and undeveloped' then counters that it is 'still remarkably acute', so paragraph C rejects a common belief (C).

What does the writer suggest about the study of smell in the atmosphere in paragraph E?

1. AThe measurement of smell is becoming more accurate.
2. BResearchers believe smell is a purely physical reaction.
3. CMost smells are inoffensive.
4. DSmell is yet to be defined.correct

“Significant advances have been made in the understanding of the biological and chemical nature of olfaction, but many fundamental questions have yet to be answered.”

Researchers 'have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two', so the writer suggests smell remains undefined — option D.

“In one well-known test, women and men were able to distinguish by smell alone clothing worn by their marriage partners from similar clothing worn by other people”

The test asked people to identify 'clothing worn by their marriage partners', so 'clothing' fills the gap.

“Odours, unlike colours, for instance, cannot be named in many languages because the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist”

Odours cannot be named because 'the specific vocabulary simply doesn't exist', the noun the sentence needs.

“Researchers have still to decide whether smell is one sense or two - one responding to odours proper and the other registering odourless chemicals in the air”

The second possible sense registers 'odourless chemicals in the air', so the gap takes 'chemicals'.

“Odours are invested with cultural values: smells that are considered to be offensive in some cultures may be perfectly acceptable in others”

The same smell can be offensive in some 'cultures' and acceptable in others, so the plural noun fits.