Is It Safe to Eat Snow?
There's nothing quite like a fresh blanket of pure, white snow. Great for sledding, snowballs, fort-building - and maybe even dessert? Before you take a big bite of the white stuff, let's talk about what could be in the flakes (雪片). When it gets cold, moisture (水分) in the air freezes into tiny, beautiful crystals that drift down from the sky.
For example, if snow has been removed from a sidewalk or a street, it might contain rock salt with certain chemicals, which help ice melt at low temperature. Unfortunately, those chemicals can also make you sick if you eat them, so you definitely don't want to eat any snow that's been shoveled (铲掉).
You should never take small bites on any snow near bird feeders or animal tracks. , squirrels, birds, neighborhood dogs for example, it may carry something not safe to you. Brown snow is off limits for the same reason you wouldn't want to taste a mud pie. And if that snow looks yellow, well, let's just say it's unlikely to be lemon-flavored.
OK, so what about freshly fallen snow? But actually, because snow can take in pollutants on the way down, the first hour or two of a snowfall acts like a brush for the air. Scientists have found that new snow can contain strange stuff including pesticides, ashes and even dirt.
All of these things are found at extremely low levels. That means it's technically safe to eat. But it's also good to know that if you just wait a few hours and then have a meal on the snow that piles up midway through a storm, you'll have the best chance of eating nothing more than pure, frozen, sky water. !
A. Snow is mostly water
B. Let's take a close look
C. Try not to have any taste of the snow
D. But snow can also contain other substances
E. Because snow can act like a pathway for animals
F. One bite and you'll be hoping spring never comes
G. That should be the safest, yummiest frozen water to eat
