吸煙有害他人自由 Smoking Hurts Others’ Freedom

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

盡管很多城市的公共場所禁止吸煙，但是很多人仍然沉溺于吸煙，特別是年輕人。有些吸煙者似乎為他們繼續吸煙找到“極具說服力的”理由。他們聲稱：如果公共場合禁止吸煙將會侵犯他們的人身自由和權力。

But these smokers should know that they are notentitled to the freedom to smoke, which infringes upon non-smokers’ freedom tobreathe clean and fresh air in public places. Unfortunately, these smokers makenon-smokers victims of their bad habit. Some smokers ignore health problems andstress that the smoking ban will endanger the local economies. In their words,tobacco industry means money and millions of jobs. Indeed, tobacco industry, onthe one hand, collects a large amount of revenue every year and helps developlocal economies; on the other hand, they make people victims of lung cancer andother fatal diseases. Have they ever thought of the direct medical costs ontreating smoking-related diseases?

但是這些吸煙的人應該知道他們不享有侵犯不吸煙的人在公共場所呼吸干凈新鮮的空氣的權力。不幸的是，這些吸煙者使不吸煙者成為他們壞習慣的受害者。一些吸煙的人忽視健康問題并且強調禁煙將會使當地經濟陷入危險。換句話說，煙草業意味著錢和成千上萬的工作崗位。事實上，煙草業一方面每年積累了大量的收入幫助了當地經濟的發展；另一方面，它們使人們稱為了肺癌以及其他致命疾病的受害者。他們有沒有想過花在吸煙相關疾病治療上的直接醫療費用？

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

據報道，美國政府已經采取了更為嚴重的措施來控制煙草業的發展。由于在國內發展困難，一些美國的煙草公司不遺余力的尋找通往中國的道路，因為中國是世界上吸煙人口最大的國家。在近代中國，英帝國主義者所帶來的鴉片給中國人民帶來了巨大的痛苦，中國人民被稱為“東亞病夫”。我們已經忘記了這痛苦的經歷了嗎？香煙的收入如此高昂又或是吸煙者的自由如此美好以至于要用人們的健康和生命的代價來購買嗎？