【英语时差8,16】打喷嚏-上（在线收听）

The signs are unmistakable: the eyes water, the chest heaves, the nose twitches, the body tenses, suspense builds… until finally a sneeze blasts forth, concluding the drama. It’s a momentarily paralyzing experience that can seize one at almost any time. But try and recall if you’ve ever been jarred out of a peaceful sleep by an explosive sneeze. Chances are you can’t, because, thankfully, we don’t sneeze while we sleep. To understand why, first we need to know why we sneeze while we’re awake. Sneezing is a reflex, which means that it’s an uncontrollable physical response to an outside stimulus. When something, say a piece of dust or a strong odor, stimulates nerve endings in the lining of the nose, the stimulus travels to the central nervous system and is then routed back to the muscles of the face, throat, and chest.