Everyone has their favorite food. Some might love chocolate. Some might love potato chips. Think about your favorite food. Have you ever wondered why your favorite food tastes so delicious？ The answer is about your tongue（舌头）and nose. There are some taste buds（味蕾） on your tongue. They give you the sense of taste. How do the taste buds work? In fact, there are many tiny hairs on the taste buds. These tiny hairs send messages to your brain about how something tastes. In this way, you know whether it is sweet, sour, bitter or salty.
A person has about 10, 000 taste buds. They keep working all the time when we enjoy our food. The taste buds don't always stay the same. They are replaced（更新）every two weeks or so.
However, as a person gets older, some of these taste buds don't get replaced. The old may only have 5, 000 working taste buds. That's why some foods may taste stronger for you than they do for the old.
Besides your tongue, your nose also helps you learn about the taste of food. Sometimes, strong smells can even confuse（使 困惑）your sense of taste. Try holding an onion under your nose while eating an apple. What do you taste?
So next time you enjoy salty pizza and sweet ice cream, thank your tongue and your nose. Without them, you won't have any sense of taste at all. Without the sense of taste, life will be boring.
