[originaltext] Sometime earlier this year I took a trip to England and Franc

Sometime earlier this year I took a trip to England and France to go see some friends in France. It was a wonderful trip, I really loved it. But one thing that struck me. I guess this would strike anyone whenever they travel, is how different cultures are from our own. Not just how different they are but how similar, but I suppose it is the differences that really stand out.
    One of the things that struck me very much was the difference in attitudes towards smoking. Many people know there’s a growing antismoking sentiment in Europe. However, when I went to England and France, I got a new perspective on this issue. People seem to smoke anywhere and everywhere, even though antismoking signs are all over public places. I heard several times over the radio about a member of the world cup soccer team who smoked. And people were actually saying, "Well, he shouldn’t be on the team because he’s a bad example for our children." I think, if they want to look at bad examples for their children with smoking, they should just go out on the street, or go into the subways, or look in the mirror, even, because so many of them are smoking in very inappropriate places. I went to a restaurant in London, and they had a buffet. There was this one English woman, who had her cigarette in her hand, lit cigarette. She was blowing smoke, and holding her cigarette directly over the buffet food. Actually when I talked to English people later, they, they were pretty shocked too, and they said that’s even rude for even British standards.
    It didn’t just make me feel that the Europeans are bad. It also had conversely a positive effect on my attitudes toward American smokers. There are a lot of American smokers who will proclaim their right to smoke whenever they want, but they will follow the rules, generally. In general they do have consideration for other nonsmokers. So this experience in Europe gave me more of a respect for this kind of smokers.
23. What issue surprises the speaker according to his trip to England and France?
24. What did the speaker find in England and France about the smoking issue?
25. What kind of smokers does the speaker respect?