If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite link between

游客2024-11-08  9

问题    If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite link between smoking and bronchial troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, then you are certainly deceiving yourself. No one will accuse you of hypocrisy. Let us just say that you are suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking.
   This needn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are in good company. Whenever the subject of smoking and health is raised, the governments of most countries hear no evil, see no evil and smell no evil. Admittedly, a few governments have taken timid measures.
   In Britain for instance, cigarette advertising has been banned on television. It ought to be a disaster for big tobacco. Governments started banning cigarette advertising on television in the 1960s, and though the marketing rope is still loose in much of the world it is tightening. Many governments ban ads in print media and oblige manufacturers to display packs with gruesome warnings. The pack itself survives as a badge of a smoker’s taste and means, displayed and pocketed 20 or 30 times a day. Lighter colors hint at relative healthiness. Tall thin packs seem more feminine. In the war on tobacco marketing, packaging is "the last major frontier", says David Hammond of the University of Waterloo in Canada. "That’s why we’re seeing such strong opposition." The conscience of the nation is appeased, while the population continues to puff its way to smoky, cancerous death.
   You don’t have to look very far to find out why the official reactions to medical findings have been so lukewarm. The answer is simply money. Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax. It’s almost like a tax on our daily bread.
   In tax revenue alone, the government of Britain collects enough from smokers to pay for its entire educational facilities. So while the authorities point out ever so discreetly that smoking may, be conceivable, be harmful, it doesn’t do to shout too loudly about it.
   This is surely the most short-sighted policy you could imagine. While money is eagerly collected in vast sums with one hand, it is paid out in increasingly vaster sums with the other. Enormous amounts are spent on cancer research and on efforts to cure people suffering from the disease.
   Countless valuable lives are lost. In the long run, there is no doubt that everybody would be much better-off if smoking were banned altogether.
   Of course, we are not ready for such a drastic action. But if the governments of the world were honestly concerned about the welfare of their peoples, you’d think they’d conduct aggressive anti-smoking campaigns. Far from it! The tobacco industry is allowed to spend staggering sums on advertising.
   Its advertising is as insidious as it is dishonest. We are never shown pictures of real smokers coughing up their lungs early in the morning. That would never do. The advertisement always depicts virile, cleanshaven young men. They suggest it is manly to smoke, even positively healthy!
   Smoking is associated with the great open-air life, with beautiful girls, true love and togetherness. What utter nonsense!
   For a start, governments could begin by banning all cigarette and tobacco advertising and should then conduct anti-smoking advertising campaigns of their own. Smoking should be banned in all public places like theatres, cinemas and restaurants. Great efforts should be made to inform young people especially of the dire consequences of taking up the habit. A horrific warning say, a picture of a death’s head should be included in every packet of cigarettes that is sold. As individuals, we are certainly weak, but if governments acted honestly and courageously, they could protect us from harm. [br] What is the best title of this passage?

选项 A、World governments should conduct serious campaigns against smoking.
B、World governments take timid measures against smoking.
C、Smoking is the most important source of income to many countries.
D、Tobacco industry spends a large sum of money on medical research.

答案 A

解析 文章最佳标题是什么?选项A世界各国政府应该开展严厉的禁烟运动。因为前面五段有四点现象体现:(1)政策软弱。如英国政府只在电视上禁止烟草广告以告慰人们的良知。另一方面人民继续一路吞云吐雾走到癌症死亡。(2)烟草的税收高,所以不严禁。(3)这项政策的后果是烟草税收更多地被花在疾病治疗上而得不偿失。(4)烟草广告泛滥毒害人。唯一解救的办法就是禁烟。最后一段是结论,也是画龙点睛的主题和标题。 “作为起步,政府可以从禁止烟草广告开始,然后应开展抵制吸烟的广告运动……”
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