4. What might be the causes of allergy? Please give a brief description of the causes.
C： Hi, everyone. Are you allergic to anything?
A: Hmm , I am a little allergic to pollen [ˈpɒlən] (花粉), which cause me sneeze [sniːz] (打喷嚏).
B: Actually, it’s not clear for me what an allergic is.
A: According to the doctors, an allergy is an overreaction of the immune system(免疫系统) to a foreign substance(物质). B: Overreaction? Working too hard?
A: Yeah, Another way to think about it is that the immune system makes a mistake. The mistake it is that the immune system fights to protect you against something that is not dangerous to us. B: Like cats, flowers, grass or some harmless food?
C: That’s right! Maybe, food is the common substance which may trigger [ˈtrɪgə(r)] (引发) an allergy. Are there any other substance?
A: To different people, an allergy can be triggered by anything. Generally, we divide the substances into five categories. The first is eating thing, like fruits, vegetables , meat , fish , medicine etc.
C: Yeah, like medicine. When reading the medicine operation instructions, we can see something about allergy.
A: The second is something we touch which contact with the skin. What come to your mind firstly?
B: Cosmetics(美容剂类), insects , jewelries(首饰), parasites(寄生虫) , and so on .
A: Correct. Sometimes the temperature of air may also trigger allergy. B: So amazing!
C: The third is something we breathe into the body. B: Pollen? Catkin(柳絮)?
C: Yeah. These days, plenty of students in our university are allergy to the catkin.
A： The forth is something we are injected(注射).Penicillin(青霉素). The doctor always take a skin—teat(皮测) before injecting.
C: Yes, the last is some other things, like work pressure, nervous. B: So, how to treat allergies?
C: We treat allergies the same way that we try to prevent infectious diseases. We try to build up the immune system by introducing small amount of the allergen(过敏源) to the body.
A: Yes, this can make us less sensitive to the allergen and teach our bodies not to react so strongly.
C: Yes, it also helps us to be in good health and have a strong immune system.
B: Yeah. I think so.
