VOA文化艺术2024--New French Stamps Smell Like Baguettes

 

Visitors to Paris for the Olympics can now send a smell of France home with their picture postcards and letters.

The smell comes from a special stamp showing the country's famous bread called baguette. The sweet smell, however, may remind you of a French bakery more than an actual baguette.

The stamp was released in May for the day of Saint²-Honoré, the saint of bakers³. Postal⁴ worker Clarisse Briend said the baguette makes people think of France. And she hopes visitors will pick up the stamps along with other official Paris 2024 postcards and stamps. The stamp sells for more than $2 at area post offices.

Pia Schöndienst is a German visitor coming from the Netherlands with her family. She bought the stamps and said she could not smell anything, but her son could smell a chocolate croissant.

"You just have to rub the stamp here like this with your nails," Clarisse Briend said. "You can smell the bread, the baguette."

At the Léonie Bakery in Paris, baker¹ Yasin Robin⁵ smelled the stamp and said, "It smells like flan," a dessert but not the baguette itself. Chief baker Harlem Gbodialo said he could smell something sweet on the stamp while the shop manager Jeanne Barrère compared it to vanilla⁶.

Regardless, Gbodialo added that the bakery expects to have many visitors at their shop near the Champs Élysées. "On top of that the Olympic Games are going to start next week, so it'll boost⁷ our influence in terms of clients, and also the weather's been nicer lately, so all the factors are coming together to have a great period of Olympic Games, a great party for everyone," he added.

Eating baguettes is not as popular as it once was, but France still makes around 16 million per day - or nearly 6 billion a year. One story explains that Napoleon Bonaparte's bakers created the long shape to make it easier for his troops to carry.

Words in This Story

postcard - n. a card on which a message may be sent by mail without an envelope and that often has a picture on one side

baguette - n. a long, thin loaf of bread

bakery - n. a place where bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked foods are made or sold

boost - v. increase

croissant - n. a type of roll that has a curved shape and that is usually eaten at breakfast

factor - n. something that helps produce or influence a result; one of the things that cause something to happen

saint - n. a person who is officially recognized by the Christian church as being very holy because of the way he or she lived

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

3 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

5 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

6 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

7 boost   

n.鼓励，激励，提高；v.鼓励，使增强信心

参考例句：

• This will be a great boost to the economy.这对于经济发展将是一个巨大的促进。
• These changes will help to boost share prices.这些变化将有助于提高股票价格。