2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读一二五

Don’t panic about e-cigarettes

不必对电子烟恐慌

Banning them all will cause far more harm than good

全面禁令将会弊大于利

“It’s time to stop vaping,”says Lee Norman,a health official in Kansas. Six people are dead in America,apparently from smoking e-cigarettes. More than450have contracted a serious lung disease.So Mr Norman’s advice sounds reasonable.

堪萨斯州的卫生官员诺曼·李说：“是时候禁止吸食电子烟了。”美国已有6人明显死于吸食电子烟。超过450人因吸食电子烟而患上了严重的肺病。因此，诺曼的建议似乎合情合理。

The Centres for Disease Control and the American Medical Association agree:the country’s11m vapers should quit.A new idea is circulating,that vaping is worse than smoking.On September11th the Trump administration said it intends to ban non-tobacco flavoured vaping fluid.Some politicians want a broader ban on all e-cigarettes.美国疾病预防控制中心和美国医学会一致认为：美国1100万电子烟民应该戒烟。如今大家普遍认为，电子烟的危害比传统香烟更大。9月11日，特朗普政府表示将计划禁止非烟草味的电子烟烟液。但一些政客则希望全面禁止电子烟。

E-cigarettes are not good for you.The vapour that vapers inhale is laced with nicotine,which is addictive.Some of the other chemicals in it may be harmful.But vaping is far less dangerous than smoking tobacco—a uniquely deadly product.

电子烟对你的身体确实没有好处。电子烟民吸入的电子烟雾中也含有致瘾成分尼古丁和其他一些可能对人体有害的化学成分。但吸食电子烟远没有传统香烟（一种独特的致命性产品）的危害大。

If people turn to e-cigarettes as a substitute for the conventional sort,the health benefits are potentially huge.Smoking kills450,000Americans every year,and a staggering7m people worldwide.Anything that weans people off tobacco is likely to save lives.

如果人们将电子烟作为传统香烟的替代品，那么还可能会给健康带来巨大的益处。美国每年有45万人死于吸烟，全球每年则有700万人死于吸烟。任何能让人们远离烟草的东西都可以被视为在拯救生命。

The big worry about e-cigarettes is that they will create a new generation of nicotine addicts.Some people who have never previously smoked have taken up vaping,including a worrying number of children.In America,for example,one quarter of high-school pupils vape.

人们对于电子烟最大的担忧在于，它们可能会导致新一代的尼古丁成瘾者。一些从未吸食过香烟的人也开始吸食电子烟了，其中不乏大量的儿童。以美国为例，全国有四分之一的高中生都在吸食电子烟。

This is alarming,and helps explain why so many governments,such as those of Egypt,Mexico,Singapore,Taiwan and Brazil,have banned e-cigarettes.They should not.Prohibition usually causes more harm than good.

这不由让人感到担忧，它也帮助解释了为什么埃及、墨西哥、新加坡、台湾和巴西等许多政府都下令禁止了电子烟。但他们其实不该这么做的。全面禁止电子烟往往弊大于利。Forbidding e-cigarettes will lead vapers to buy illicit products—the type that are far more likely to poison them.It will also deter many law-abiding smokers from switching to something less deadly.

电子烟禁令将导致烟瘾者去购买更有可能毒害他们身体的非法产品。同时它也限制了许多守法烟民转向购买危害更小的产品的途径。

For these reasons,regulating vaping is wiser than trying to eliminate it. Governments should carefully control what goes into vape fluid,following the example of the European Union,which restricts the amount of nicotine it may contain.America’s FDA,by contrast,seems constantly to change its mind about how to regulate vaping.

基于这些理由，加强监管比试图消除电子烟更为明智。各国政府应该仔细地控制电子烟烟液中的成分，以欧盟为例，其限制了烟液中的尼古丁含量。相比之下，美国食品药品监督管理局对于如何监管电子烟似乎一直犹豫不决。

Governments should also regulate how e-cigarettes are advertised. Marketing aimed at children is obviously unacceptable.So,perhaps,are fruity flavours that appeal especially to young ernment health warnings should be clear and measured.Vaping may be a dangerous habit, but it is vastly less deadly than lighting up.

政府也应该对电子烟的广告加以规范。针对儿童的营销显然是不可接受的。所以，青少年也许正是被水果口味的电子烟所吸引的。政府应该发布清晰慎重的健康警告。吸食电子烟或许确实存在危害，但它远没有传统香烟那么致命。(红色标注词为重难点词汇)