Lesson13 The Dangers of Secondhand Smoke

Most people know that cigarette smoking is harmful to their health.Scientific research shows that it causes many kinds of diseases.In fact,many people who smoke get lung cancer.
However,Edward Gilson has lung cancer,and he has never smoked cigarettes.He lives with his wife,Evelyn,who has smoked about a pack of cigarettes a day throughout their marriage.The Gilsons have been married for 35 years.No one knows for sure why Mr.Gilson has lung cancer.
Nevertheless,doctors believe that secondhand smoke may cause ung cancer in people who do not smoke because nonsmokers often breathe in the smoke from other people's cigarettes.This smoke is called secondhand smoke.Edward Gilson has been breathing this type of smoke for 35 years.Now he is dying of lung cancer.
However,he is not alone.The U.S.Environmental Protection Agency reports that about 53,000 people die in the United States each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.We call this passive smoking.

nevertheless ? 然而
Environmental Protection Agency 環(huán)境保護(hù)署
exposure ? 暴露
passive 被動的

二手煙的危害

大多數(shù)人都知道吸煙有害健康。科學(xué)研究表明，吸煙能夠誘發(fā)多種疾病。事實上，許多吸煙的人得了肺癌。
然而愛德華吉爾松從不抽煙卻得了肺癌。他和他的妻子伊芙琳生活在一起，婚后他的妻子每天要抽一包煙。吉爾松夫婦已經(jīng)結(jié)婚三十五年了。沒有人確切地知道為什么吉爾松會得肺癌。
然而，醫(yī)生相信二手煙可能會使不抽煙的人患上肺癌，因為不抽煙的人經(jīng)常吸入別人吸煙時產(chǎn)生的煙。這種煙叫做二手煙。愛德華吉爾松吸這種煙吸了三十五年。現(xiàn)在他即將死于肺癌。
然而，他的情況可不是唯一的。美國環(huán)境保護(hù)署報道，每年在美國大約有五萬三千人因吸入二手煙死亡。我們把這種情況叫做被動吸煙。