3rd Feb SCMP社評:Tobacco tax increase is best way to curb smoking增加煙草稅是約束吸煙最好的方法

3rd Feb SCMP社評:Tobacco tax increase is best way to curb smoking增加煙草稅是約束吸煙最好的方法

It took years to extend anti-smoking laws to restaurants and bars, a ban which came into effect last July. It has taken only a few months for activists to take their campaign to curb smoking outdoors. The Council on Smoking and Health is considering recommending that the government should introduce measures to corral smokers into designated outdoor smoking areas. Because more smokers have been driven onto the streets, it argues that second-hand smoke is now an outdoor health hazard,especially in crowded pedestrian areas, and that this justifies further action. A street ban would be difficult to police, but council chairwoman Lisa Lau Man-man cites the example of Tokyo, another densely populated area, where smoking in the streets has been banned in some areas.

花了很多年將禁煙條例延伸至餐廳和酒吧,一條去年七月生效的禁令.活躍分子只花了幾個月進行其運動去約束室外的吸煙. 吸煙及健康委員會正考慮建議政府實施措施去限制吸煙者去指定室外吸煙範圍.因為有更多的吸煙人士被趕到去街上,委員會辯稱說二手煙現在是室外健康危機,尤其是在繁忙的行人路上, 而那證明更進一步行動有道理.街道禁令會難以去管制,但委員會女主席劉文文引述東京的例子,另一個人口稠密的地方,那裡在某些範圍在街上吸煙是被禁止的.

Designated non-smoking outdoor areas are already to be found, for example along the promenade outside the Central ferry piers. Smokers generally respect them and Lau believes they would also discipline themselves if the balance were reversed and smoking areas were designated instead.

So long as tobacco use remains lawful, however addictive and unhealthy it may be, these ideas raise the question of balance between personal freedoms and community interest. Bans respect non-smokers' right to breathe clean air. Butthere is room for more effective enforcement of the recently introduced indoor bans and the HK$1,500 on-the-spot fines for breaches. That would reinforce the educational message to the slowly shrinking minority who smoke that theirs is an anti-social and risky habit.

指定的非吸煙室外區已經可以被找到, 例如沿著中環渡輪碼頭的海濱長廊. 吸煙者普遍都重視這些地方,而劉相信他們也會約束自己如果那平衡是調換.只要煙草使用仍繼續合法, 無論它是多令人上癮和不健康, 這些建議提出了個人自由和社會利益之間的平衡. 禁令重視非吸煙者呼吸乾淨空氣的權利.但最近實施的室內禁令和違反的仟伍元當場的罰款有更有效的執行的空間. 那會增強對慢慢減少的吸煙少數人士他們吸煙是一個反社會和危險的習慣的教育性信息.

Lau rightly concedes that the most effective way of curbing smoking remains rises in tobacco tax. Having raised it by 50 per cent last year - the first increase for eight years - the government should not shrink from imposing a smaller incrementalrise in this year's budget. Unfortunately this would hit the poor hardest. But given that smoking is addictive, and taxpayers at large fund the earlier, more frequent and extra health care that smokers are prone to need, this is one tax increase for which there is an argument in social equity.

劉有道理地承認最有效抑制吸煙的方法仍然是煙草稅提昇. 政府已在去年把它提高了50巴仙-八年來第一次提昇-它不應該避免在今年的財政預算強制一次定額的提昇. 不幸地這會把窮人影響得最大. 但既然吸煙是令人上癮的, 而且納稅人普遍都支持早前吸煙者頃向需要的更頻繁的額外照料,這是一次在社會公正上有爭議的稅增加.

英語筆記:
1. extend有好幾個意思. 常用包括延長,如延長時間, 延長距離-可以使...延長或自己延長(The shelf extends 20cm from the bookcase).在這裡,則是指擴大..的影響: extend the law即擴大條例的影響.


2. came into effect: 生效


3. curb 類似stop, 但stop是停止, curb只是壓抑, 或控制/約束.


4. corral ...into和drive意思差不多一樣,都是驅趕....到某個地方.


5. 危險通常用danger, risk等, 也可用hazard.


6. promenage讀音似法文, 讀ˌprɒm.əˈnɑːd/, 美國讀 /ˌprɑː.məˈneɪd/.


7. respect除了解尊敬, 也解重視. 尊敬係對人, 重視可以對人對事.


8. remain解留下, 即stay, 也解繼續/依然是, 後跟形容詞, 如remain lawful, remain seated,也可跟as ..., 如She remains as a teacher.


9. raise又係有十個解法的字. 解提起, 如raise the flag; 解增加, 如The number raised; 解籌錢, 如raise the money; 解提出, 如raise the question; 解引起, 如raise doubts; 解養育, 如raise a kid. 還有少見的解改善, 如raise the standard.


10. 執行係enforce,配law, code, ban等.


11. shrink 最多人識係"縮水",即縮少, 但亦都作"減少,變細",如shrinking number of people,可以是"變細/少"或"使...變細/少", 如"shrink the tumor". 另一少見用法係解退縮.


12. rightly即有道理地.


13. concede係承認, 另一意思係認輸.


14. shrink from又唔太同shrink,那是phrasal verb. 意思是"避免", 有逃避的含意.


15. impose唔係解執行, 係"強制推行", 如impose a fine, 即強制罰款.


16. increment係定額增加.


17. hit又係有20個意思的子. 在這裡, hit解嚴重影響,或打擊.


18. 我承認我唔係好明呢一句:and taxpayers at large fund the earlier, more frequent and extra health care that smokers are prone to need


19. argument啲意思是爭吵, 但argument也是論點, 也解異議.