【英语语言学习】电子烟的盛行

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Electronic-cigarettes are often billed as a safe way for smokers¹ to kick the habit. But it's not just smokers who are getting their fix this way. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in five kids in middle school who've tried an e-cigarette say they've never actually smoked a real cigarette. Between 2011 and 2012, e-cigarettes doubled in popularity among kids in middle and high school students.

Youth Radio's Jenny Lei Bolario explores the appeal and possible dangers of smoking e-cigarettes, also known as vaping.

JENNY LEI BOLARIO, BYLINE²: At a middle school in the San Francisco Bay Area, 8th grader, Viviana Turincio, noticed some kids smoking in class - or at least, that's what it looked like.

VIVIANA TURINCIO: I was in 8th period and we had a substitute and there was a group at the table and they were just like smoking on the vape pen and the teacher was right there - and the teacher didn't even notice.

BOLARIO: The kids were smoking an electronic cigarette, sometimes called a vape pen. It's a hand-held, battery-powered device that vaporizes a liquid, which is often infused with nicotine⁴. You inhale⁵ the vapor³ through a mouthpiece, and exhale⁶ what looks like smoke, which can smell like candy.

TURINCIO: My favorite flavor is gummy bears because it tastes really good.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLARIO: Vapor liquids come in various flavors but teens prefer dessert-inspired ones - like gummy bear - which are more appealing than the nasty smell and taste of burning tobacco.

Marleny Samayoa, also in the 8th grade, has favorite vape flavors.

MARLENY SAMAYOA: I like cotton candy, cherry flavors, vanilla⁷. That's pretty much all I like.

BOLARIO: Have you ever smoked a cigarette before? Have you tried to smoke a cigarette?

SAMAYOA: I have but I didn't like it. It has kind of a weird⁸ taste to it, like coffee without sugar.

BOLARIO: E-cigarettes are easier for kids to buy than regular cigarettes. There's no federal age limit for how old you have to be. But some states, including California, prohibit the sale to minors⁹. So middle schoolers turn to sites like eBay, where independent sellers don't ask for your age.

SAMAYOA: So a lot of kids are getting them online and they're just introducing it to a lot of other kids and then it just keeps going from there.

BOLARIO: Marleny noticed the growing popularity of e-cigs on social media sites like Instagram. Hashtag Vapelife and the pictures of people vaping are endless.

SAMAYOA: I take pictures or do tricks, like the O's, blowing O's and blowing them like on flat surfaces and, yeah, making tornadoes¹⁰.

BOLARIO: Swirling¹¹ clouds of vapor are touching¹² down in theaters, restaurants and malls, while health professionals are trying to catch up with this new fad¹³.

DR. CATHY MCDONALD: Right now, we don't have as much information as we would like.

BOLARIO: That's Dr. Cathy McDonald. She runs a center for Tobacco Dependence¹⁴, Treatment and Cessation for Alameda County in California.

MCDONALD: What we know is that in research studies, 10 minutes of smoking an e-cigarette for a person who has never smoked a cigarette does cause a noticeable increase in airway¹⁵ resistance in the lungs.

BOLARIO: Dr. McDonald worries about more people using nicotine. But compared to the old fashioned, combustible¹⁶ tobacco, she feels like e-cigarettes might be an upgrade.

MCDONALD: It's probably better than smoke, and I say that because smoking cigarette is 4,000 chemicals, 400 are poison, 40 cause cancer. I mean it's not great. However, you have to understand that we've been studying cigarettes for years and years and years, you know, so it's really difficult to know.

BOLARIO: Researchers haven't had the time to do long-term studies comparing traditional cigarettes to electronic ones. But at least among my friends, the ones who've made the switch have noticed positive change. My boyfriend, Gray Keuankaew, is one of them.

GRAY KEUANKAEW: Within the two months that I've been vaping, my body feels a little bit more healthy. I'm a runner so I'm able to kind of run a little bit longer without having to catch my breath. So if it's going to be any type of positive benefit, then I'm definitely going to a stick to it.

BOLARIO: I'm glad it's easier for him to run, but he hasn't outrun his nicotine addiction¹⁷. With e-cigarettes they still have nicotine and you choose what amount you want. The Tobacco Vapor Electronic Cigarette Association estimates that e-cigarette sales will surpass $2.5 billion this year.

Geoff Braithwaite owns Tasty Vapor, a company in Oakland that sells and distributes liquids for e-cigarettes.

GEOFF BRAITHWAITER: Our target customer base is those people who felt doomed¹⁸ to a life of smoking. But there's going to be that novelty around it, it's a brand new thing, it's an electronic device. That kind of stuff is always going to appeal to kids. It would have appealed to me.

BOLARIO: Anti-smoking campaigns spent decades and billions of dollars to make smoking less appealing to youth. But cheap prices for brightly colored e-cigs, sweet flavors, and the ability to vape anywhere is putting nicotine back on the kids menu. The FDA has said it plans to regulate e-cigarettes, but so far the agency hasn't issued any rules.

For NPR News, I'm Jenny Lei Bolario.

MONTAGNE: And that story was produced by Youth Radio.

1 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

4 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

5 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

6 exhale   

v.呼气，散出，吐出，蒸发

参考例句：

• Sweet odours exhale from flowers.花儿散发出花香。
• Wade exhaled a cloud of smoke and coughed.韦德吐出一口烟，然后咳嗽起来。

7 vanilla   

n.香子兰，香草

参考例句：

• He used to love milk flavoured with vanilla.他过去常爱喝带香草味的牛奶。
• I added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream to the pie.我在馅饼里加了一块香草冰激凌。

8 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

9 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 tornadoes   

n.龙卷风，旋风( tornado的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Tornadoes, severe earthquakes, and plagues create wide spread havoc. 龙卷风、大地震和瘟疫成普遍的毁坏。 来自互联网
• Meteorologists are at odds over the working of tornadoes. 气象学者对龙卷风的运动方式看法不一。 来自互联网

11 swirling   

v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Snowflakes were swirling in the air. 天空飘洒着雪花。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• She smiled, swirling the wine in her glass. 她微笑着，旋动着杯子里的葡萄酒。 来自辞典例句

12 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

13 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

14 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

15 airway   

n.空中航线，通风口

参考例句：

• Lay them on their side and ensure the airway is unobstructed.让他们侧躺着，并确保呼吸道畅通。
• There is a purple airway in London Airport.伦敦机场里有一条皇家专用飞机跑道。

16 combustible   

a. 易燃的,可燃的; n. 易燃物,可燃物

参考例句：

• Don't smoke near combustible materials. 别在易燃的材料附近吸烟。
• We mustn't take combustible goods aboard. 我们不可带易燃品上车。

17 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

18 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。