Fresh Air Will Kill You
Smog, which was once the big attraction of Los Angeles, can now be found all over the country from Butte, Montana, to New York City, and people are getting so used to polluted air that it's very difficult for them to breathe anything else.
I was lecturing recently, and one of my stops was Flagstaff, Arizona, which is about 7,000 feet above sea level.
As soon as I got out of the plane, I smelled something peculiar.
"What's that smell?" I asked the man who met me at the plane.
"I don't smell anything," he replied.
"There's a definite odor that I'm not familiar with," I said.
"Oh, you must be talking about the fresh air. A lot of people come out here who have never smelled fresh air before."
"What's it supposed to do?" I asked suspiciously.
"Nothing. You just breathe it like any other kind of air. It's supposed to be good for your lungs."
"I've heard that story before," I said. "How come if it's air, my eyes aren't watering?"
"Your eyes don't water with fresh air. That's the advantage of it. Saves you a lot in paper tissues."
I looked around and everything appeared crystal clear. It was a strange sensation and made me feel very uncomfortable.
My host, sensing this, tried to be reassuring. "Please don't worry about it. Tests have proved that you can breathe fresh air day and night without its doing any harm to the body."
"You're just saying that because you don't want me to leave," I said. "Nobody who has lived in a major city can stand fresh air for a very long time. He has no tolerance for it."
"Well, if the fresh air bothers you, why don't you put a handkerchief over your nose and breathe through your mouth?"
"Okay, I'll try it. If I'd known I was coming to a place that had nothing but fresh air, I would have brought a surgical mask."
We drove in silence. About fifteen minutes later he asked, "How do you feel now?"
"Okay, I guess, but I'm sure miss sneezing."
- sneeze: When you sneeze, air and often small drops of liquid suddenly come out of your nose and mouth in a way you cannot control. 打喷嚏。
"We don't sneeze too much here," the man admitted. "Do they sneeze a lot where you come from?"
"All the time. There are some days when that's all you do."
"Do you enjoy it?"