【今日英語】Up in smoke 吸籲吸煙者戒煙一個月

　　Vocabulary: smoking 詞匯：吸煙

　　Smokers in England have been asked to give up smoking for 28 days this month, in a campaign backed by Cancer Research UK and the British Heart Foundation.

　　Research shows people who manage not to light up for this length of time are five times more likely to kick the habit for good.

 

　　Public health experts say campaigns that include a combination of hard-hitting adverts and supportive messages work best.

　　Quitting smoking can be difficult. People are much more likely to succeed if they get support than if they try to do it alone and go cold turkey.

　　Robert West, Director of Tobacco Studies at University College London, points out how peer pressure can prevent a tobacco addict's resolve going up in smoke.

　　"We are social animals, we are herd animals and we are influenced by each other," he said.

　　The initiative has met some scepticism among readers of the BBC News Online website. Some compared it to asking people to stop eating as a way of combating obesity. Others doubt the campaign's effectiveness.

　　"Its weakness is that it fails to address why a person smokes, and these reasons are as varied as the number of smokers", says someone who signed as BluesBerry.

　　Another reader, Cazz, has decided to give it some credit. He says: "Campaigns like this won't necessarily prompt the majority of smokers to quit, but may prompt those thinking about quitting to set a date and try. Surely it's worth a shot."

　　The number of smokers in England is estimated at 8 million.

　　According to the Department of Health, smoking is the biggest cause ofpremature death in the country.

　　Quiz 測驗

　　For how long is the campaign asking smokers to be smoke-free?

　　Look at the article. Why is it easier to stop smoking when other people are doing the same?

　　Is the following statement true, false or not given? Most of the BBC News Online website readers do not believe the anti-smoking campaign will succeed.

　　What adjective in the article means something done with the objective to cause shock?

　　What are the three verbs used to say 'not to smoke anymore'?

　　Glossary 辭匯表

　　· to give up放棄

　　· to back收撐

　　· to light up點燃

　　· to kick the habit要戒失落惡習

　　· a public health expert年夜眾健康專傢

　　· hard-hitting強硬的

　　· to quit戒失踪，放棄

　　· to go cold turkey突然結束(做某事)

　　· peer pressure錯誤壓力

　　· an addict癮君子

　　· to go up in smoke化為烏有，成為泡影

　　· scepticism懷疑，懷疑主義

　　· to address解決

　　· to prompt促使

　　· to be worth a shot值得一試的

　　· premature過早