263 Anti-smoking campaigns 1

Marissa 早上一到办公室,就开始跟同事 Hank 发牢骚。

Marissa: I hate walking into our building in the morning! - All the smokers stand around the building's entrance puffing away....I can't take it! Sorry....I'm just a little bit worked up.

Hank: That's okay. I understand. A lot of people really hate smoke.

M: I'm glad they banned smoking inside the office, but I wish I didn't have to smell it while walking on the street. It makes me feel nauseous. I simply can't understand why a person would want to smoke.

H: well....I used to smoke. I quit about 20 years ago.

M: Yeah...I would assume at this point in history - especially given what we know about the dangers of smoking - most people would have quit already!
 
Marissa 说,每天早上来上班,大楼门口都有很多烟民在 puffing away 吞云吐雾,she can't take it. 实在让她受不了,烟味让她觉得反胃 nauseous, nauseous is spelled n-a-u-s-e-o-u-s, nauseous 意思是恶心,反胃。她觉得,现在吸烟的危害已经众所周知,怎么还会有人吸烟,真是让人匪夷所思。Hank 20年前也抽烟,我们看看他是怎么说的。

H: You know the saying, "old habits die hard." I think I would add that bad habits die even harder. You know, you could always move to Bhutan.

M: Bhutan? I don't think I've ever heard of it.

H: It's a small kingdom located in the Himalayan Mountains....near Nepal. In 2004, Bhutan banned tobacco altogether.

M: Cool! Did it work? If I go to Bhutan will I never smell cigarette smoke?

H: Actuall....no. I read a recent report that said there's a lot of loopholes in the law....and if you go to restaurants and bars you'll still see lots of people lighting up.

M: (Sighs) So I guess I'm just have to learn to put up with it.

俗话说得好,old habits die hard. 积习难改。Hank 觉得,坏习惯更难改。他开玩笑,建议 Marissa 搬到 Bhutan不丹去,因为不丹2004年就全面禁止烟草了。不过,这项法律其实还是有很多可以钻的空子,loopholes, 所以,在不丹的餐馆和酒吧里,还是能看到很多人 light up 点烟抽。

H: Things are changing, however. Smoking rates are dropping all around the world. Just the other day there was a newspaper report that said New Zealand is raising prices on a pack of cigarettes to US$15 by the year 2016!

M: US$15!? Wow!  That's really expensive. But is there any proof that high prices are a deterrent?

H: There have been quite a few studies that show that every time a country raises cigarette taxes and prices, a certain percentage of smokers quit.

不过,情况也在逐渐向好的方向转变, Smoking rates are dropping all around the world. 世界各地的吸烟人口比例都在下降。Hank 看到一篇报道说,新西兰2016年之前,要把一包香烟的价格提高到15美元的天价。Mimi 问,有证据证明涨价能起到抑制作用吗? Deterrent is spelled d-e-t-e-r-r-e-n-t, deterrent 意思是起到阻止和威慑效果的因素。Hank 说,有不少研究都发现,一个国家每一次给香烟涨价或是提高税率,都会有一部分烟民戒烟。