Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that Earth laughs in flowers. Well, you know what? I don't think it's funny. If you're like me, the coming of spring signals just one thing. Allergies. I mean, seriously, how much crud can my head really hold?

  It's like Hermione's purse up in there. Of course, it's not really fair to blame（责备） flowers for most seasonal（季节的） allergies. While most plants do keep their pollen（花粉）-covered private parts right out there in the open, flower pollen is really too heavy to go airborne（空运的）. Instead, they get bees and other pollinators（授花粉器） to help them do the fertilization（[农] 施肥） deed（行为）. It's mainly trees and grasses that let their genetic（遗传的） material loose（松的） on the wind. And they don't mess around.

  I mean, really? Is that necessary if one tree needs that much pollen to reproduce（复制）? Maybe evolution（演变）'s trying to tell you something. That's all I'm saying. Maybe this was a mistake. By my immune（免疫的） system, allergic reactions are the result of our immune（免疫的） system going haywire and doing battle with completely and totally harmless stuff like pollen（花粉）, dust, pet dander, because it clearly has nothing better to do.

  Your body enlists several types of antibodies in its immune army. Most are sent out to fight different invaders（侵略者） like viruses and bacteria（细菌）, but this one, IgE, seems to have just one purpose. Making us miserable（痛苦的） a few times a year. I mean, mediating（调解） our body's response to allergens. When we're first exposed（使暴露） to an allergen, we don't have much of a reaction on the outside. But inside our bodies, it's different.

  A special cell（细胞） in our immune（免疫的） system vacuums（真空） up foreign antigens and presents them to other cells（细胞） like, "Hey, check this out. This doesn't belong here."