VOA标准英语2008年-Turkey Bans Smoking in Many Public Places

By Dorian Jones
Istanbul
19 May 2008

New regulations against smoking in many public places went into effect in Turkey on Monday. The new rules ban smoking in educational, health, commercial, social, cultural, sports and all entertainment facilities. For VOA, Dorian Jones has this report from Istanbul.

 

In Istanbul's huge Cezaye shopping mall, one of Europe's largest, cigarettes are now forbidden. Security guards are under strict orders to enforce the new law, which makes owners of public buildings liable for a $4,000 fine if people are caught lighting¹ up. Individual smokers³ face a $100 fine and will also be penalized⁴ for even dropping cigarette butts⁵.

Enjoying the new smoke free air is 30-year-old shopper Hasmet Topoglu. He says the new law is long overdue⁶.

"I don't smoke and I don't like that I am being subject to smoking wherever I go, for years I was trying to find places where there is a smoking section and also a non-smoking section," said Hasmet Topoglu. "But even if this is the case people don't follow the rules. So I am with the ban."

A Turkish anti-smoking group says more than 40 percent of adult Turks smoke, and according to the Turkish health ministry⁷ annually⁸ over 150,000 die each year from smoking-related deaths.

Turkey's high death toll⁹ from smoking was the key reason the government pushed through the tough new law. And in the coming months it is going to get even tougher with the ban being extended to bars, restaurants and clubs. But there appears to be a growing defiance¹⁰ among some smokers.

Ozgur Genc, a two pack a day smoker² says the law will do little to break his habit.

"OK its forbidden I am going to pay my fine and going to smoke one cigarette," said Ozgur Genc. "There are so many people who can pay for it and smoke for it in Turkey, you will see."

 

But the government seem equally determined¹¹. Only days before the ban came into force, it issued a directive that strictly¹² interprets the law, ruling out any ambiguities¹³ in the new legislation, along with a warning that it will be rigorously enforced. While the state authority controlling media also warned it would strictly enforce the ban on all images of cigarettes on TV programs and films. Turkey now seems set for a battle of wills.

1 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。

2 smoker   

n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室

参考例句：

• His wife dislikes him to be a smoker.他妻子不喜欢他当烟民。
• He is a moderate smoker.他是一个有节制的烟民。

3 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。

4 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

5 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。

6 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

11 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

12 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

13 ambiguities   

n.歧义( ambiguity的名词复数 )；意义不明确；模棱两可的意思；模棱两可的话

参考例句：

• His reply was full of ambiguities. 他的答复非常暧昧。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Fortunately, no ambiguities hang about this word or about its opposite, indeterminism. 值得庆幸的是，关于这个词和它的反义词，非决定论都不存在多种解释。 来自哲学部分