Up in Smoke I began to smoke when I was in high school. In fact, I remember the evening I
My parents didn’t care much. They both smoked, and my older brother did too. My mother told me that smokers don’t grow tall, but I was already5’6”(taller than most of the boys in my class), so I was happy to hear that “fact”. In school, the teachers talked against smoking, but the cigarette advertisements were so exciting. The men in the ads were so good-looking and so successful, and the women were-well, they were beautiful and sophisticated(老于世故的).
I read a book called how to stop smoking. The writer said that smoking wastes time, and that cigarettes cost a lot of money. “So what?” I thought, the book didn’t say that smoking can take away years of your life. But ten years later, everyone began to hear about the negative effects of cigarette smoke: lung disease, cancer, and heart problems. After that, there was a health warning on every pack of cigarettes. I didn’t pay much attention to the reports and warnings. I felt healthy, and I thought I was taking good care of myself.
Then two events changed my mind. First, I started to cough. I thought it was just a cold, but it didn’t get better. Second, my brother got lung cancer. He got sicker and sicker. My brother and I used to smoke cigarettes together over twenty years age, and we smoked our last cigarettes together the day before he died. I sat with him in his hospital room, and I decided to quit. “NO more cigarettes, ever,” I said to myself.
However, it was very hard to stop, Nicotine(尼古丁)is a drug; as a result, cigarettes cause a powerful addiction. I tried several times to quit on my own—without success. I made excuses. I told myself: Smoking helps me keep my figure—i.e. I don’t gain weight when I smoke. Smoking not only relaxes me but it also helps me think clearly. I’m a free, liberated woman. I can smoke when I want to.
Finally, I ran out of excuses—I might say my excuses went up in smoke. I joined the “Stop Smoking” program at the local hospital, which also ended up in failure.
第11题:How the writer started smoking shows the powerful influence of
A.educational institutions
B.one’s social status
C.the mass media
D.public opinions