Basal epithelial cells are extremely dynamic and replace the gustatory cells every week or so, which is why even a terribly burned tongue will feel better in a couple of days.

基底上皮细胞非常活跃，大约每周都会更换味觉细胞，这就是为什么即使是严重烫伤的舌头也会在几天内感觉好些。

For example, salty things are full of positively-charged sodium ions that cause sodium channels in the gustatory cells to open, which generate a graded potential, and spark an action potential.

例如，咸的东西充满带正电荷的钠离子，导致味觉细胞中的钠通道打开，从而产生分级电位并激发动作电位。

In order to taste a bite of pizza, those food chemicals, or tastants, must dissolve in saliva so they can diffuse through those taste pores, and bind to receptors on those gustatory cells, and then trigger an action potential.

为了品尝一口披萨饼，这些食物化学物质或味道剂，必须溶解在唾液中，这样它们才能通过这些味觉毛孔扩散，并与味觉细胞上的受体结合，然后触发动作电位。

Every gustatory cell projects a thread-like protrusion of the cellular membrane called a gustatory hair, which runs down to a taste pore, a small hole in the stratified squamous epithelium covering the taste bud and the rest of the tongue.

每个味觉细胞在细胞膜上投射出一个叫做味觉毛的线状突起，向下延伸到味觉孔，味觉孔是覆盖味蕾和舌头其余部分的分层鳞状上皮上的一个小洞。

These epithelial receptor cells come in two major types — gustatory — or the kind that actually do the tasting, and basal — the stem cells that replace the gustatory cells after you burn them on a lava-hot melty cheesy Hot Pocket.

这些上皮受体细胞有两种主要类型——味觉细胞——或者说是负责品尝的那种，和基底细胞——是你把味觉细胞放在熔岩熔化的奶酪热口袋里加热后替代它们的干细胞。