禮節(jié)美語:264 Anti-smoking campaigns 2

　　Marissa 和同事 Hank 正在討論吸煙的問題。Hank 說，有不少研究都發(fā)現(xiàn)，漲價確實能起到一定的抑制作用，促使一部分人戒煙。Marissa 說，

　　M: I see. The high prices act as "the straw that broke the camel's back." Smokers that have been meaning to quit see the price increase and it gives them a little push.

　　H: Yeah. But on the other hand, prices are already quite high in many places. A pack of cigarettes in London costs about US$10... in New York a pack costs roughly 8 dollars.... and in Norway it's already around $14....but I was in London not that long ago and I saw plenty of smokers!

　　M: Yeah. The last time I was in New York there also seem to be plenty of smokers. I guess there are some people who are wealthy enough to afford whatever price.

　　因此說，給香煙漲價就好像是 the straw that broke the camel's back 壓倒駱駝的最后一根稻草，幫了那些本來就想戒煙的煙民一把，give them a little push. 但是高價格也只能對某些人發(fā)揮作用?，F(xiàn)在倫敦一盒煙賣十美元，紐約賣8美元，挪威賣14美元，可抽煙的人還是很多，看來價格再高，也攔不住那些經(jīng)濟(jì)上能負(fù)擔(dān)得起的煙民。

　　H: Definitely. I think the best way forward is to push education efforts for young people. If we can convince the next generation that smoking isn't "cool", eventually we might be able to eradicate smoking.

　　M: I suppose you're right. You can pass all the laws you want but that doesn't mean people will follow them. People's attitudes need to change.

　　H: Exactly! In the 1920s they banned alcohol in America, but of course people didn't stop drinking. Instead, lots of people got sick and even died from drinking industrial alcohol.

　　Hank 覺得，要真想杜絕吸煙，the best way forward 接下來最好的辦法還是要通過宣傳和教育，讓年輕一代覺得，抽煙不是一件很酷的事情。Marrissa 表示同意，不管你通過多少項法律，只要大家的觀念沒有發(fā)生變化，法律就無法得到有效執(zhí)行，就好像美國20年代時的禁酒令，并沒有讓人們停止飲酒，反而有很多人因為沒有酒喝，結(jié)果飲用工業(yè)酒精而死亡。

　　M: I would imagine that as cigarettes get more expensive, smokers looking for a cheaper option will turn to counterfeit ones. I wonder if those would be even worse than the originals!

　　H: You're probably right. But I do think smoking will not be nearly as common a couple decades from now. That article about New Zealand said that country hopes to eradicate smoking by 2025.

　　M: That's not that long from now! Maybe I should start thinking about moving to New Zealand!

　　H: (Chuckles) Perhaps you should!

　　Marissa 覺得，如果香煙價格不斷上漲，很多經(jīng)濟(jì)上負(fù)擔(dān)不起的煙民，恐怕就會轉(zhuǎn)向 cheaper option, 相對便宜的替代品，也就是 counterfeit ones, 假煙，counterfeit is spelled c-o-u-n-t-e-r-f-e-i-t, counterfeit 是假冒偽劣的意思。這些假煙的危害八成比正品的危害還要大。Hank 覺得，未來的前景還是很樂觀的，新西蘭就打算在2025年之前，徹底鏟除煙草。也許，Marissa 真的可以考慮移民到新西蘭去。