XXIII. A) Read the extract carefully and note down the following points.

a) the reasons for smoking;

b) harmful consequences of smoking;

c) the most likely diseases caused by smoking;

d) smoking and life-span.

Smoking is very dangerous. Most young people smoke because their friends pressure them to do so. They may be copying their parents who smoke, or other adults they respect. At one time this would have been accepted as normal. But in the past 30 years attitudes about smoking have changes. Smoking is now banned in many places so that other people don’t have to breathe in smokers’ shocking tobacco smoke.

Passive smoking, when you are breathing someone else’s smoke, can damage your health just like smoking can. Smoking becomes addictive very quickly, and it’s one of the hardest habits to break.

Take 1000 young people who smoke 20 cigarettes a day. A quarter of them will die from a disease caused by smoking. That’s 250 lives wasted! Only six of those 1000 teenagers will die in road accidents. So what is it in cigarette smoke that is harmful? A chemical called nicotine is a substance that causes addiction. It is a stimulant that increases the pulse rate and a rise in the blood pressure. Cigarette smoke also contains tar – a major factor for causing cancer.

Chronic bronchitis occurs when tar and mucus damage the air sacks in the lungs. The sufferer has a bad cough which is worse in the mornings, and may get breathless easily.

Gases in cigarette smoke increase your blood pressure and pulse rate. This can contribute to heart disease. Smokers as twice as non-smokers are likely to have heart trouble.

Smokeless tobacco that is chewed rather than smoked, is also harmful, causing mouth sores, damage to teeth and cancer.

If you’ve ever watched an adult try to give up smoking, you know how hard it can be. It’s easier, healthier and cheaper never to start.

b) Read some facts about smoking.

• The smell of smoke on your breath and clothes will put people off.

• Someone who smokes 15 cigarettes a day can forget six to nine years of their life.

• You’re burning a great deal of money. In many countries cigarettes are heavily taxed.

• Your skin will wrinkle faster and deeper than that of a non-smoker.

• Females who smoke heavily may wrinkle like a woman 20 years older in age.

c) Smokers in America sometimes feel as though war has been declared on them. There is no more smoking in offices, restaurants, aeroplanes or most other public places. Do you think it’s a good idea? Here are some of the opinions.

Smoking is awful and I personally can’t stick the smell. As for me, I wouldn’t just ban smoking in public but I would ban it everywhere in every country.

Lizzie (USA)

As an asthmatic I strongly believe that smoking should be banned in public places. If smokers knew how asthmatics felt when they breathe in smoke mane people would stop.

Olga (Russia)

What’s all this fuss about? Perfumes also have bad effects on asthmatics. Should we ban the use of perfumes and air fresheners?

Anna (France)

If people want to kill themselves, let them. But I don’t see why we should let them kill others?

Sofia (Poland)

d) What do you think? Think of some other pros and cons of smoking.