暢游“通感”的秘密花園

A Secret GArden of 1）SynAeStheSiA

Claudia Hammond （Reporter）： All around me flowers are blooming and exploding with colour. Their scents are filling the air. It’s a beautiful sunny day here， and hundreds of people have come to enjoy the sights of this flower show. But not everyone is going to experience them in exactly the same way. So I’ve come to meet James. For him， things are not as straightforward as you might expect.

So James， what actually is synaesthesia？ Why are these senses crossing over for people？

James Wannerton （UK Synaesthesia Association）： Synaesthesia is， uh， probably best described as a， as a joining of the senses. And as adults， most people， the majority of people， the senses operate independently. With a synaesthete， you get two senses that are joined together， so some people， they can taste sound， other people can see colours when they…when they hear a sound， they can see wild shapes dancing around in front of their face.

Claudia： So you have synaesthesia yourself. What， what form does your take？

James： What I’ve got is I’ve got a sound to taste， and also vision to taste， as well. So when I see certain colours I also get a， a very strong taste.

Claudia： And so it’s almost as if you have got that actual food in your mouth. You’re not just associating it…

James： No…no！ You see， it’s a real mouth feelin’， so I can…it is actually like I’m really eating something. That’s the 2）peculiar thing for me.

Claudia： So do you keep getting loads of taste all in a row， then， because there’s loads of different words I’ve just said in that sentence？ Would that be all sorts of different tastes？

James： Yeah， there was bacon in there. There was a， a fruit 3）passel in there as well.

Claudia： Now I’ve got a much milder form of， of synaesthesia， and I see colours for days of the week. So Monday is red. Today is Friday， so that’s， that’s definitely

yellow， so I just assumed everybody did， ’cause it’s just the way the world is for me. Is this that how it is for you？ It’s just how it is.

James： Exactly， yeah. It’s so natural. It’s as natural as breathing.

Claudia： Synaesthesia can come in many different forms. Sounds might be colourful， or taste can even have shapes. Now this may sound a bit odd， but in this tent here， anyone can get a sense of what it’s like for themselves. This is a special garden designed by Sarah Wilson， who experienced synaesthesia as a child.

What inspired you to do a garden based on synaesthesia？

Sarah Wilson （Garden Designer）： I had heard of the condition， and then I spoke to James. I got some input from him about actual experiences of synaesthetes， and tried to apply those concepts inside the garden， so that it did represent their experiences.

Claudia： Oh， that was brilliant！ And it really did remind me of some of the synaesthetic experiences that people like me and James experience on an every-day basis. It gives everyone the perfect opportunity to try out for themselves this crossingover of the senses.

克勞迪婭·哈蒙德（記者）：在我周圍，鮮花綻放，色彩繽紛，空氣中彌漫著花香。這是一個大晴天，數百名游人來這個花園欣賞花卉展，但并不是每個人對此番美景都有同樣的感受。我特地來這里與詹姆斯見面。在他眼中，世間萬物并不像你所想的那么直觀。

詹姆斯，聯覺到底是什么呢？為什么有些人的官能感受會重疊在一起呢？

詹姆斯·萬納頓（英國聯覺協會）：聯覺就是……也許對它的最佳描述方式就是多種感官的交互作用。對成年人來說，許多人……大多數人的感官都是獨立運作的。聯覺者則會有兩種感官共同作用，所以有些人能品嘗到聲音的味道，有些人能看到色彩……聽到聲音時，他們會看見奇形怪狀的色塊在他們眼前跳動。

克勞迪婭：你自己也是一名聯覺者。怎么……你的聯覺是怎樣的呢？

詹姆斯：我的情況是聽覺會作用到味覺，視覺同樣也會作用到味覺。所以當我看到特定顏色時，我會有……一種非常強烈的味覺體驗。

克勞迪婭：這簡直就像你嘴里真的有食物一樣。你并不僅僅是聯想到……

詹姆斯：不，不！你瞧，這是一種真切的口腔感覺，所以我能……這就像我真的在吃東西一樣。對我來說，這點特別神奇。

克勞迪婭：那么，因為我在剛才那個句子里說了一大堆詞語，你會不斷地嘗到一系列味道嗎？會產生各種各樣的味覺嗎？

詹姆斯：是啊，有腌肉味，還有……一大堆水果的味道。

克勞迪婭：我的聯覺現象比你輕多了，一周七天在我眼中有不同的代表色。所以星期一是紅色的。