What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A doctor? An astronaut（宇航員）? How about an ice-cream taster? Yes， there really is a job where you can get paid to taste ice cream.Just ask John Harrison， an \"Official Taste Tester\" at Dreyer's/Edy's Ice Cream for the past 21 years.Testing helps manufacturers1 to be sure of a product's quality. During his career Harrison has been responsible for approving over 200 million gallons2 of the sweet creamy dessert （奶油甜點(diǎn)）——as well as for developing over 75 flavors（風(fēng)味）。

In a typical morning on the job，Harrison tastes and evaluates 60 ice-cream samples3 each from the 20 flavor batches （一批生產(chǎn)量） produced the previous day.Starting with vanilla （香草味）and working up to stronger flavors like mint chocolate-chip; （薄荷巧克力脆皮）， he slices3 open each container.Then he lets the ice cream warm up to about 12 degrees Fahrenheit4.The temperature in the storage freezer(冷藏柜)is -20 degrees.Most people eat ice cream at between 0 and 5 degrees.But cold ice cream can numb(使……麻木)the taste buds（味蕾）， Harrison explains， so \"You get more flavor from warmer ice cream， which is why some kids like to stir（攪拌） it， creating ice-cream soup.\"

While the ice cream warms up，Harrison looks over the samples and grades each one on its appearance. \"Tasting begins with the eyes，\" he explains. He checks to see if the ice cream is attractive and asks himself，\"Does the product have the color expected from that flavor?\"If there are added goodies5 in the ice cream，such as fruit， chocolate chips，nuts， or fudge ribbons (軟糖碎片)，he makes sure that they are evenly(均勻地) spread throughout and that the sample doesn'thave too much or toolittle of the added ingredients(成分).Next it's time to taste! With his gold-plated spoon(鍍金的勺子)， which he uses to avoid the aftertaste6 plastic or wood can give，Harrison skims7 the top of the sample， where it's warmest. Then he turns the spoon upside down and plops (把……沉重地放下) the spoonful(一匙的量) onto his tongue.

\"I've developed a way of tasting called the Three S' s，\" he says. \"First， I swirl (使旋動(dòng)) the ice cream very quickly around in my mouth，completely coating my taste buds. Then I smack(咂嘴) my mouth several times very fast to warm up the ice cream even more and to add air， to release the maximum flavor.\" While swirling and smacking， he tastes for balance between the cream，the natural flavors， and the sweetening ingredients， and he checks to be sure that the ice-cream texture (質(zhì)地)is smoothand creamy， not icy (結(jié)滿冰的) or gummy (黏性的). After about three to five seconds of swirling and smacking，he demonstrates the third S--he spits out （吐出） the sample into a bucket（水桶）. \"That's the worst part of my job，\" he sighs， \"spitting out the ice cream.\" But that doesn't mean he never eats ice cream.Harrison swallows（咽下） one bite of each new flavor， to test the aftertaste.

Both at work and in leisure （空閑的） time， Harrison is always on the lookout（費(fèi)心尋覓著） for new flavor ideas that might succeed commercially.The most popular flavor he has developed so far is cookies（甜餅干）and cream. Continuing to think up new ideas， try out new flavors，and testsamples from somany batches of ice cream each day keeps Harrison busy but happy--working at one cool job.

注釋：

1. manufacturer n．制造商，制造廠（或公司）

2．gallon n．加侖（液量單位）

3．slice vt．切開(kāi)，劃破

4．Fahrenheit adj．華氏溫度計(jì)的，華氏的。華氏12度約為攝氏零下11度

5．goody n．[常作goodies]好吃的東西，好東西

6．a(chǎn)ftertaste n．后味，余味

7．skim vt．去除（固體）表面的異物

你長(zhǎng)大以后想干什么？當(dāng)老師？醫(yī)生？宇航員？當(dāng)個(gè)冰淇淋品嘗員怎么樣？對(duì)，真就有這樣的工作，你品嘗冰淇淋就可以獲得報(bào)酬。問(wèn)問(wèn)約翰·哈里森，21年來(lái)他一直在德雷爾/埃迪冰淇淋公司做“職業(yè)冰淇淋品嘗員”。品嘗有助于生產(chǎn)廠家保證產(chǎn)品質(zhì)量。哈里森的職業(yè)生涯中，他已負(fù)責(zé)為兩億加侖奶油甜點(diǎn)做了驗(yàn)證，同時(shí)開(kāi)發(fā)出75種新口味。

每個(gè)正常工作日，哈里森上午通常要品嘗和評(píng)估60份冰淇淋樣品——前一天生產(chǎn)的20種口味的冰淇淋，每種3份。他切開(kāi)每個(gè)包裝，從香草味開(kāi)始品嘗，逐漸到最強(qiáng)烈的口味，如薄荷巧克力脆皮的。然后他讓冰淇淋慢慢升溫，達(dá)到約12oF。在冷藏柜里，溫度是—20oF。絕大多數(shù)人吃冰淇淋時(shí)是0-5oF。但是冰淇淋溫度太低，會(huì)使味蕾失去知覺(jué)，哈里森解釋道，所以“你能從溫度稍高點(diǎn)的冰淇淋得到更多的味覺(jué)享受，這就是為什么一些小孩兒喜歡攪拌它；使它變成冰淇淋糊。”

當(dāng)冰淇淋逐漸升溫，哈里森先審視樣品；根據(jù)外觀對(duì)每種樣品作出評(píng)級(jí)。“品嘗是從眼睛開(kāi)始的。”他解釋說(shuō)。他仔細(xì)查看冰淇淋是否能吸引人，并自問(wèn)：“這個(gè)產(chǎn)品有它這種口味所預(yù)期的色澤嗎?”如果冰淇淋還加了其他好吃的，比如水果、巧克力脆皮、果仁或者軟糖碎片，他要確信它們都已經(jīng)分布均勻了，并且樣品中的加料既不過(guò)多也不過(guò)少。下面是品嘗的時(shí)間了!他用鍍金的勺子以避免塑料勺或木勺帶來(lái)的余味，哈里森刮去樣品的表面，那是快化了的部分。然后他從上到下轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)勺子，把一整勺冰淇淋啪地放在他的舌頭上。

“我總結(jié)出一種品嘗方法，稱為三S法，”他說(shuō)，“首先，我非常快速地在口腔中轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)冰淇淋，讓它完全覆蓋我的味蕾。然后我非常快速地咂幾次嘴，給冰淇淋進(jìn)一步加熱并吸進(jìn)空氣，使香味的釋放達(dá)到最大?！碑?dāng)轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)和咂嘴的時(shí)候，他仔細(xì)品味奶油、自然香味和甜味添加劑之間的平衡，并且檢查以確信冰淇淋質(zhì)地柔滑、沒(méi)有冰碴、不粘牙。大約用了3到5秒鐘轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)和咂嘴后，他展示了他的第三個(gè)S——把樣品吐到桶里了?！斑@是我的工作最糟糕的部分，”他嘆道，“把冰淇淋吐出來(lái)?！钡牵@不是說(shuō)他從來(lái)不吃冰淇淋。哈里森把每種新口味的冰淇淋咽下去一點(diǎn)，以品嘗其余味。

無(wú)論是工作還是休閑，哈里森總在探求有可能在商業(yè)上獲得成功的新口味。到目前為止，他開(kāi)發(fā)出來(lái)的最受歡迎的口味是甜點(diǎn)的和奶油的。不斷地想新主意，試驗(yàn)新口味，每天檢測(cè)如此多批次的冰淇淋，哈里森很忙碌，但是很快樂(lè)——他干的是一份很“酷”的工作。