The Five Senses

The five senses of the body include sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Human beings and most other animals use the five senses to help them live and experience the world around them. The senses also help people to learn, protect themselves, and to enjoy the differences between foods, sounds, and other experiences a person has in life. The senses also work together to give you a clear picture of the activities around you.

The first sense is sight, which depends on the eyes. People use their eyes to see the people, objects, and other items around them. Of course, the sense of sight is also helpful for reading, traveling, driving, and moving from place to place each day. Inside the eye there are special lenses that take in light to help people see things. If it is too dark, a person will have trouble seeing. The eyes can also adjust to the amount of light available. Many people, though, young and old, may also need glasses to help them see clearly. Some people may be able to see things up close, but not far away, which means they are nearsighted. If a person can see far away but not up close, they are farsighted. If a person is blind, there are special books written in braille which helps them feel the raised letters. Some blind people also have special dogs to help guide them from place to place in their home and when they go places.

The second sense, hearing, depends on the ears. There are actually three parts of the ear, the outer ear, middle ear, and the inner ear. The outer ear is the part other people can see. The outer ear catches the sound waves as they travel to the person and then sends them into the ear. The outer ear acts like a funnel collecting the different sounds a person experiences. The middle ear contains the eardrum and several bones which transfers sound from the outer ear to the inner ear. The inner ear consists of tubes and passages that takes the sound vibrations and sends it to your brain for understanding.

The third sense, smell, depends on your nose. Inside the nose there is a substance that takes the fumes of an odor and then sends it to the brain. If a person gets a cold the sense of smell may not be as strong. The nose also helps clean the air a person breathes by filtering it. Inside the nose there are tiny hairs, called cilia, which act as cleaners to help keep substances in the air from entering a person's body through the nose. In addition, the nose affects the way a person speaks. If a person holds their nose while speaking, their voice will sound different. Smell also helps with the sense of taste. As a person tastes the food in their mouth, the aroma of the food enters a person's nose.

The next sense, feeling, or touch, can be experienced throughout the entire body through a person's skin. Some parts of the body are more sensitive to touch than other parts. The skin has parts in it that collect information and sends it the brain. Most of a person's feeling is done by the hands. In addition, when a person has a stomach ache or feel other kinds of pain, the sense of touch is working from inside the body.

The final sense, taste, comes from the taste buds on a person's tongue. As stated earlier, the sense of smell also affects the sense of taste. The tongue tastes four different flavors: salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. Many foods a person eats may be a combination of the four main flavors. The tongue can also feel whether something in a person's mouth is hot, cold, creamy, crunchy, or dry.

In summary, the five senses are sight, hearing, smell, feeling, and taste. The five senses work together to help you live, protect yourself, learn, and enjoy the world around you.




A: Hearing
B: Smell
C: Sight
D: Taste

A: They can see things up close but not far away.
B: They can see things far away but not up close.
C: They cannot see things far away or up close.
D: They can see everything as far as the eye can see.

A: Close-sightedness
B: Nearsightedness
C: Farsightedness
D: Braille

A: Inner ear
B: Middle ear
C: Outer ear
D: Upper ear

A: Helps with the taste of food
B: Helps filter the food a person eats
C: Helps filter the air a person breathes out
D: Helps filter the air a person breathes in

A: Taste
B: Smell
C: Hearing
D: Feeling








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