世卫组织:吸烟的伤害远比你想象的多（在线收听）

AS IT IS 2015-06-01 WHO: Smoking Costs More Than You Think 世卫组织:吸烟的伤害远比你想象的多

A single cigarette sold on a street corner may not cost a lot; however, the overall costs of smoking are huge.

在街角买一包烟花不了多少钱，但吸烟带来的总体成本是巨大的。

First, consider the cost of human life. The World Health Organization says about 10 people die of a tobacco-linked disease every minute. That rate adds up to almost six million people dying from such diseases every year.

首先考虑人生命的价值，世卫组织称每分钟就有10人死于与烟草相关疾病，累积下来每年就有近600万死于此类疾病。

The majority of these preventable deaths happen in low-income and middle-income countries. The World Bank says each of these countries has a gross national income of less than $12,746.

大多数此类可预防的死亡发生在中低收入国家，世界银行称这些国家的人均国民收入不到12746美元。

Stopping smoking

For most people, stopping smoking is hard. Many began smoking as teenagers. They are used to it. Also, tobacco contains the powerful drug nicotine.

对大多数人来说，戒烟是困难的。很多人从年少就开始吸烟，他们已经习惯了，同时，烟草中含有强力药物尼古丁。

Studies show people who want to stop smoking can do so with different treatments. Some get help from electronic cigarettes, medicine or nicotine patches that reduce one’s desire for the drug.

研究表明，想戒烟的人可以通过各种疗法来实现戒烟目的，一些人从电子香烟、药物或能减少对尼古丁渴望的尼古丁贴片来寻求帮助。

Dr. Nancy Rigotti works at Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States. She says she finds that medicine and counseling services together work best of all.

南希·里戈蒂博士就职于美国马萨诸塞州总医院，她说她发现药物和咨询服务配合使用的效果最好。

Other experts and former smokers offer even more effective advice: if you are considering starting smoking, don’t.

其他专家和曾经的烟民提供了更加有效的建议：如果你考虑开始吸烟，赶紧停住！

Illegal tobacco trade

But smoking costs more than the life of an individual. It can affect the health of an entire country.

但吸烟不仅损害个人的生命，还影响整个国家的健康。

The World Health Organization says low-income countries depend heavily on taxes from cigarettes. They use the money, in part, to pay the costs of health care for tobacco-related diseases.

世卫组织称低收入国家严重依靠烟草税，它们使用部分税收来为烟草相关疾病的医疗成本买单。

But the illegal trade in tobacco products is further testing the economies of low-income countries. WHO officials say the illegal trade earns about $31 billion every year.

但烟草产品的非法贸易也在进一步考验低收入国家的经济，世卫组织官员称非法贸易每年获利310亿美元。

Douglas Bettcher is the director of the WHO’s Department for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases. He calls the illegal trade a monster with many heads.

道格拉斯·贝彻是世卫组织非传染性疾病预防部主任，他称非法贸易是多头怪兽。

He says the trade enables young people to buy cigarettes at low prices, become addicted to tobacco and suffer serious health problems. It also increases crime and reduces tax revenue.

他说这种贸易使得年轻人以低价格购买香烟，对烟草上瘾并遭受严重的健康问题，还能使犯罪事件增多，并减少税收。

“It feeds the proliferation of transnational organized crime, another head of this multi-headed monster, and it drains resources, taxes, revenue from the purses of ministries of finance, governmental coffers.”

“非法贸易滋长了跨国组织犯罪，这是多头怪兽的另一头，造成资源、税收和国家财政收入从国库中流失。”

The World Health Organization is urging United Nations member states to sign a treaty to end the illegal trade in tobacco products. Eight countries have approved the treaty. But the approval of 32 other countries is needed for it to become international law.

世卫组织敦促联合国成员国签署协议以终结烟草产品的非法贸易，有8个国家通过了该协议，但仍需要另外32个国家的批准才能使之成为国际法。

If the treaty succeeds, governments could put people who trade illegal tobacco products in jail – another cost to countries’ budgets.

如果该协议得到通过，各国政府就能将进行非法烟草产品贸易的人投入监狱，这是国家预算的另一个成本。

Words in This Story

patches – n. pieces of material that contain a drug (the material is worn on your skin, enabling the drug to slowly enter your body over a long period of time)

non-communicable – adj. not able to be passed to another person

monster – n. a powerful thing that cannot be controlled and that causes many problems

proliferation – n. rapid increase in number or amount; spread