礼节美语 Business Etiquette 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 smokers¹ stand around the building's entrance puffing² 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 smoking³ 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 assume⁴ 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 located⁵ in the Himalayan Mountains....near Nepal. In 2004, Bhutan banned tobacco⁶ 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 lighting⁷ 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 proof⁸ that high prices are a deterrent⁹?

　　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。

1 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

2 puffing   

v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧

参考例句：

• He was puffing hard when he jumped on to the bus. 他跳上公共汽车时喘息不已。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe. 父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 smoking   

n.吸烟，抽烟；冒烟

参考例句：

• He was wise to give up smoking.他戒烟是明智的。
• He has decided to cut out smoking and drinking.他已决心戒烟、戒酒。

4 assume   

vt.假装；假定，设想；承担；呈现，采取

参考例句：

• I assume that he won't cheat you.想来他是不会骗你的。
• We can't assume anything in this case.在这种情况下我们不可能做出假设。

5 located   

adj.处于，位于

参考例句：

• The mechanic located the fault immediately. 机修工立即找到了出故障的地方。
• a small town located 30 miles south of Chicago 位于芝加哥以南30英里的一个小镇

6 tobacco   

n.烟草；烟草制品；抽烟

参考例句：

• Tobacco is considered by some to be an evil.烟草被有些人认为是一种祸害.
• A large amount of money is spent on tobacco every year.每年在烟草上花去大量的钱.

7 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

8 proof   

adj.防...的，耐...的，能防护；n.校样，证据，证明；vt.检验，给...做防护措施

参考例句：

• He is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.他是当代医学奇迹的活证明。
• The proof was fished up from some old papers.校样在旧文件中被找到了。

9 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。