Unit 4 SECTION A

Unit 4

Pre-reading questions

1. How do you feel when you find someone is smoking in public?

2. Does anyone in your room smoke? What do you think of it?

3. What bad results do you think smoking will bring about?

Stopping Smoking in Public Places? 课文讲解

▪Stopping Smoking in Public Places? 生词短语/New words, Phrases and Expressions

▪Stopping Smoking in Public Places? 生词详细讲解new words explanation

▪Stopping Smoking in Public Places? 语言重点讲解/Language Point ▪含蓄条件句语法讲解

▪公共场所应该禁烟吗？

▪ A Decision Made Too Late 课文讲解

▪ A Decision Made Too Late 生词短语/New words, Phrases and Expressions

▪ A Decision Made Too Late 生词详细讲解new words explanation

▪ A Decision Made Too Late 语言重点讲解/Language Point

▪太迟的决定

▪The Future of Cigarette Makers

▪The Future of Cigarette Makers background information

▪香烟制造商的未来

Stopping Smoking in Public Places? 课文讲解Should we allow smoking in public places? This is an important

question being discussed in American society today. This article

compares two totally different opinions.

The first opinion is held by Joseph Califano, past United States

Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, who believes that smoking shouldn't be allowed in public places. Califano states that

"People should not be forced to breathe other's smoke." He

supports his opinion with numbers, such as, "5, 000 Americans die

each year because of other people's smoke." He believes that this is

something we can't ignore. He, therefore, supports the restriction

of smoking in every public place, including schools, hospitals, theaters, and other work areas, with extra sections for smokers.

According to Califano, the cost of controlling smoking wouldn't be

very high. Califano even thinks that people will save money by

reducing illness. The idea would be to protect non-smokers. He has said "People who smoke are slowly killing themselves. The point is

to prevent their smoking from becoming a slow murder of others."

The second opinion is against controlling smoking in public

places. Paul Screvane, former president of the New York City

Council, sees the problem in a different way. He takes the view that restricting smoking in public places "would set up two classes of

citizens and would make many people angry". A law to stop

smoking in public places could not be enforced, because the police are too busy. Screvane says that he can find "no facts that prove smoke

from other people is a danger". He says that scientists could not

prove that cigarette smoke is dangerous to other people who don't smoke. He states that people working in the same office must sit near each other, and the cost of changing offices to avoid smoke is too

great. Screvane, a heavy smoker himself, would lose too much time

if he had to go to a special area three or four times an hour. He believes that creating no smoking areas would cost too much money and waste too much time.

These two men, it seems, will never agree. They fight each other,

and at the same time defend their own opinions with examples,

numbers, and personal experience. There are no similarities in

their ideas, except perhaps the point about smoking in restaurants. Screvane believes that smoking in restaurants should be stopped,

if many customers demand it. Califano wishes to protect people's

health from the dangers of smoke. He cares a lot about public health and safety. Screvane cares about creating different classes of

people in society, about money, and about time, but he never talks about public health and safety.

I agree with Califano that people at work should have a

smoke-free place if they want it. I also believe that companies could

save money when their workers are not wasting time in smoking. Non-smokers should even get more money, because smokers stop working every time they light a cigarette.

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background information:

New York City is the largest city and chief port of the USA. It is located in New York State next to the Atlantic Ocean at the point where the Hudson River joins the East River. The city has five parts: Manhattan, the Bronx, Queen’s, Brooklyn and Richmond. New York is one of the world’s busiest ports. It is America’s center for finance, business and tourism. Try the web site and you will learn more about New York’s buildings, parks, beaches and people.