活动分子呼吁好莱坞影片中减少吸烟镜头

 

Activists¹ Urge Hollywood to Cut Back on Smoking in Movies

活动分子呼吁好莱坞影片中减少吸烟镜头

 

Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the public health director for Los Angeles County, says 80 percent of the live-action movies favored by young people portray² smoking, and that the images make young viewers more likely to take up the habit.

 

He says the entertainment industry has done a remarkable³ job in helping⁴ with public health issues like AIDS, breast cancer, and hunger.

 

Jonathan Fielding: That is why it's so perplexing to us in public health that an industry with such a huge heart continues to ignore a proactive solution that could save tens of thousands of lives every year in the United States, and millions more worldwide.

 

Dr. Fielding spoke⁵ with reporters as a mobile billboard⁶ started touring Hollywood, with a message urging that smoking be kept out of youth-rated movies. The so-called International Day of Action was held February 22, in advance of the biggest day of the year in the U.S. movie calendar, Oscar Sunday. That is the day when Hollywood turns out in all its glamor⁷ for the annual Academy Awards presentation.

 

Stan Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, was one of the people behind the U.S. movement to eliminate smoking in public places. And as city after city started imposing⁸ restrictions⁹ on smoking, he turned his attention to movies.

 

Stan Glantz: About 10 or 12 years ago, I started noticing that there seemed to be a lot more smoking in the movies, and started getting concerned about the problem. And after several years of going to quiet, behind-the-scenes and totally useless meetings with people in Hollywood, decided¹⁰ to start a public campaign to really put this issue on the public agenda.

 

As part of the worldwide effort to highlight movie smoking, film screenings are being held in Senegal and Israel in which young people cough each time an on-screen actor lights a cigarette. Young people in Malaysia are meeting with reporters to discuss the smoking issue, and campaigners in India are protesting the prominent display of Marlboro cigarettes in a current Indian movie.

 

Professor Glantz says Hollywood sets the standard for international films, and notes that more than half of its revenues come from countries outside the United States and Canada. So his organization, called Smokefree Movies Action Network, has helped organize protests and educational events from Algeria to Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

 

Moviemakers, for their part, bristle¹¹ at the suggestion that on-screen portrayals¹² promote smoking, just as they question the link between movies and real-life violence or other harmful behavior. Professor Glantz says researchers have shown a conclusive¹³ tie between smoking and the movies, and adds that simple steps, such as restricting smoking to adult-only films, would address the issue without censorship.

 

Payments by cigarette companies for prominent placement in movies, once common in Hollywood, are no longer legal. The researcher questions, however, why so many Hollywood films show people smoking. He says regardless of the reasons, the portrayals are a form of advertising¹⁴ for tobacco companies.

 

Stan Glantz: It's advertising that people don't realize they're being advertised to. And once people are made aware of it and thinking about it, then it doesn't work for them as well any more.

 

He says one suggestion adopted by some theater owners in Canada could also help. Theater tickets have an anti-smoking message printed on the back. He adds that on-screen notices before a movie begins can also alert viewers to the dangers of smoking, and says such ads are now being shown in New York State and Vermont.

 

Mike O'Sullivan, VOA news, Los Angeles.

 

注释：

live-action [laiv5AkFEn] （影片）直接从大自然或以真人表演摄制的

portray [pC:5trei] v. 描绘，描写

breast cancer 乳癌

proactive [prEJ5Aktiv] adj. 主动的

calendar [5kAlindE] n. 日历

glamor [5^lAmE] n. 魔法，迷人

behind-the-scenes [bi5haindTE5si:nz] adj. 幕后的

Senegal [7seni5^C:l] n. 塞内加尔（西非国家）

Vietnam [7viEt5nAm] n. 越南

for one's part 对某人来说

censorship [5sensEFip] n. 审查机构，审查制度

regardless of 不管，不顾

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

7 glamor   

n.魅力，吸引力

参考例句：

• His performance fully displayed the infinite glamor of Chinese dance.他的表演充分展示了中华舞蹈的无穷魅力。
• The glamor of the East was brought to international prominence by the Russion national school.俄罗斯民族学派使东方的魅力产生了国际性的影响。

8 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

11 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。

12 portrayals   

n.画像( portrayal的名词复数 )；描述；描写；描摹

参考例句：

• And painters alluded to her eroticism in their bare breasted portrayals of the dying queen. 画家们把她描绘为裸胸垂死的贪欲的女王。 来自互联网

13 conclusive   

adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的

参考例句：

• They produced some fairly conclusive evidence.他们提供了一些相当确凿的证据。
• Franklin did not believe that the French tests were conclusive.富兰克林不相信这个法国人的实验是结论性的。

14 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。