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Fresh Air Will Kill You
新鲜空气会让你送命
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.
烟雾曾是洛杉矶的一大景观，如今却在全国各地——从蒙大拿州的比尤特到纽约市——随处可见；人们越来越习惯于受污染的空气，现在要他们呼吸点别的什么玩意儿，反倒十分困难了。
I was lecturing recently, and one of my stops was Flagstaff, Arizona, which is about 7,000 miles above sea level.
前些日子我在做巡回演讲，其中有一站是亚利桑那州的弗拉格斯塔夫，该城地处海拔7000英里以上。
As soon as I got out of the plane, I smelled something peculiar.
我一下飞机就闻到某种特别的怪味。
"What's that smell?" I asked the man who met me at the plane.
“那是股什么味儿?”我问那个来机场接我的人。
"I don't smell anything," he replied.
“我可没闻到什么啊，”他说。
"There's a definite odor that I'm not familiar with," I said.
“肯定有股我不熟悉的怪味儿，”我说。
"Oh, you must be talking about the fresh air. A lot of people come out here who have never smelled fresh air before."
“哦，你准是在说新鲜空气吧。不少来这儿的人以前从没呼吸过新鲜空气。”
"What's it supposed to do?" I asked suspiciously.
“那玩意儿用来干嘛的？”我狐疑地问。
"Nothing. You just breathe it like any other kind of air. It's supposed to be good for your lungs."
“不干嘛。你就像呼吸任何别的空气那样呼吸好了。据说对肺有好处。”
"I've heard that story before," I said. "How come if it's air, my eyes aren't watering?"
“这说法我从没听说过，”我说。“如果这也算是空气，那我的眼睛怎么没在淌眼泪呢?”
"Your eyes don't water with fresh air. That's the advantage of it. Saves you a lot in paper tissues."
“新鲜空气不会让你眼睛流眼泪的，它的好处就在于此。可以省掉你不少面巾纸。”
I looked around and everything appeared crystal clear. It was a strange sensation and made me feel very uncomfortable.
我环顾四周，一切都显得水晶般地清澈。这倒给人一种怪异的感觉，让我觉得浑身不自在。
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."
我的东道主觉察出了这点，便设法拿话来宽慰我。“请不要为此担心。试验业已证明，你尽可日夜呼吸新鲜空气，而不会对身体造成任何伤害。”
"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."
“你说这话无非是不想让我离开罢了，”我说。“住惯了大城市的人，要他们长时间呼吸新鲜空气，谁都受不了的。这玩意消受不了。”
