吸烟有害他人自由 Smoking Hurts Others’ Freedom

Though smoking has been banned in public places in many cities, many people are still addicted to smoking, especially young people. Some smokers seem to have “quite convincing” reasons for their continuing to smoke. They claim if smoking is forbidden in public places, it will infringe upon their personal freedom and human rights.

尽管很多城市的公共场所禁止吸烟，但是很多人仍然沉溺于吸烟，特别是年轻人。有些吸烟者似乎为他们继续吸烟找到“极具说服力的”理由。他们声称：如果公共场合禁止吸烟将会侵犯他们的人身自由和权力。

But these smokers should know that they are not entitled to the freedom to smoke, which infringes upon non-smokers’ freedom to breathe clean and fresh air in public places. Unfortunately, these smokers make non-smokers victims of their bad habit. Some smokers ignore health problems and stress that the smoking ban will endanger the local economies. In their words, tobacco industry means money and millions of jobs. Indeed, tobacco industry, on the one hand, collects a large amount of revenue every year and helps develop local economies; on the other hand, they make people victims of lung cancer and other fatal diseases. Have they ever thought of the direct medical costs on treating smoking-related diseases?

但是这些吸烟的人应该知道他们不享有侵犯不吸烟的人在公共场所呼吸干净新鲜的空气的权力。不幸的是，这些吸烟者使不吸烟者成为他们坏习惯的受害者。一些吸烟的人忽视健康问题并且强调禁烟将会使当地经济陷入危险。换句话说，烟草业意味着钱和成千上万的工作岗位。事实上，烟草业一方面每年积累了大量的收入帮助了当地经济的发展；另一方面，它们使人们称为了肺癌以及其他致命疾病的受害者。他们有没有想过花在吸烟相关疾病治疗上的直接医疗费用？

It is reported that the US Government has adopted even more severe measures to control the development of its tobacco industry. Having a hard time at home, some US tobacco companies are sparing no effort in finding their way into China, which has the world’s largest number of smokers. In modernChina, opium brought by British imperialists brought great suffering to Chinese people, who were then called “sick men ofEast Asia”. Have we forgotten this bitter experience? Is tobacco revenue so dear or smokers’ freedom so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of the health and life of our people?

据报道，美国政府已经采取了更为严重的措施来控制烟草业的发展。由于在国内发展困难，一些美国的烟草公司不遗余力的寻找通往中国的道路，因为中国是世界上吸烟人口最大的国家。在近代中国，英帝国主义者所带来的鸦片给中国人民带来了巨大的痛苦，中国人民被称为“东亚病夫”。我们已经忘记了这痛苦的经历了吗？香烟的收入如此高昂又或是吸烟者的自由如此美好以至于要用人们的健康和生命的代价来购买吗？