"Dimpy," as her friends call her, heard about the hazards of smoking in health class. "They showed pictures of lungs of people w

admin2010-02-21  48

问题    "Dimpy," as her friends call her, heard about the hazards of smoking in health class. "They showed pictures of lungs of people who smoked, h was gross," says the petite 14-year-old. Yet, as she shops along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., the ninth grader points out all the places where she regularly buys cigarettes without hassle. "All my friends smoke," She shrugs, explaining the habit she developed in the sixth grade. "Once they pressure you, you start. And it’s kind of hard to stop."
   As the cigarette industry draws increasing tire, teen smokers like Dimpy are becoming the focus of concerned policy makers around the country. Sported by a University of Michigan study showing a dramatic rise in adolescent tobacco use, the White House is considering ways to curb the surge. Among the options: eliminating cigarette vending machines, restricting tobacco advertising, increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes and launching a national media campaign directed at adolescents. A grand jury in New York has begun an investigation to determine whether Philip Moms Cos. concealed information linking nicotine levels and addictiveness. And the Justice Department is looking into whether tobacco company executives committed perjury in their April 1994 congressional testimony on how smoking affects health.
   Lack of credibility. But it’s tough to get an antismoking message through to teens. The California Department of Health Services spends $12 million a year placing antismoking commercials on television, including popular MTV programs, but many teenagers aren’t buying the message. Says Erica Leona, who will enter eighth grade in the fall, "I don’t think those ads work, became it’s like a cartoon. It’s too exaggerated."
   In fact, teens seem skeptical about the potential effectiveness of any organized efforts to reduce smoking, like increasing taxes. While research shows that every time rexes go up, sales go down, including among teens, young people say the cost is relatively low in comparison with other vices. "You want weed, it’ll cost you," says Robert Caldwell, 14. "For cigarettes, you just go anywhere, put 12 quarters into one of those machines, take it and go." Other teens maintain that eliminating vending machines won’t make cigarettes any harder to buy. "You give a guy enough to buy you a pack and a beer, and he’ll buy the pack," says Cameron Davis, 13. And advertising isn’t really what entices adolescents to smoke. For the most part, they say, teens smoke because of peer pressure. "It’s like sex." says 13year-old Frances, who started smoking at age 9. "You feel like, if you don’t do it with your boyfriend, he won’t like you."
   In addition, messages that relate to health don’t compute with adolescents, who often feel invincible. It doesn’t help, says Roxanne Cannon, editorial director of Teen and Sassy magazines, that so many teen idols such as Ethan Hawke, Jason Priestley and Luke Perry are seen smoking.
   Teens say any message is more effective if it’s communicated by other kids. But even a White House appeal made by Chelsea Clinton might not get through to adolescents eager to smoke. "I don’t listen to my mom when she tells me to stop," says Dimpy. "Why would I listen to anyone else".
It is suggested in the passage that ______.

选项 A、teenagers are always more willing to accept their parents’ advice
B、some tobacco manufacturers probably have produced cigarettes with higher levels of nicotine than they admit
C、the White House has already decided to scrap all the cigarette vending machines across the nation
D、the Justice Department has found the tobacco company executives guilty of perjury

答案B

解析 从文中第二段两个案子陪审团与司法部对烟草公司行为的调查,可知他们在信息披露方面存在猫腻,B项正确;A项不对,因为文章只是表达孩子们的口气“连妈妈的话都不听,何况外人”,但并非说她们就一定更愿意听妈妈的话;C项错误,因为还未付诸实施;D项错误,因为还在调查。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/9MIO777K
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)