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     The bar chart above shows that the number of Chinese smokers exceeds the current population of the U.S. and Chinese production of cigarettes accounts for 40% of the world's total. Chinese smokers smoke 2 trillion cigarettes a year, which leads to 1.1 million people dying of smoking-related diseases. However, the taxes paid by the tobacco industry amounted to about 753 billion yuan in 2011.
     So, is the sale and consumption of tobacco a good thing or not? To the government it is a mixed blessing. While the sale to domestic consumers and exports abroad bring in valuable financial returns, the cost to the government of providing increased health care to patients afflicted with smoking-related diseases is spiraling year by year. The cost to smokers is even higher as smoking-related diseases affect more and more people, some of whom die earlier than normal. Added to this are the effects of second-hand smoke where innocents are caught up in a medical condition not of their own making.
     To sell or not to sell, to buy or not to buy, that is the question. The easiest of all answers would be just to export tobacco products and to ban all domestic use, but this is hardly feasible within a free economy.

     上面的柱状图显示，我国烟民数量超过了目前美国人口的总和，而且我国生产的香烟占全世界香烟总产量的40％。我国烟民一年消耗的香烟数量为2万亿，导致110万人死于吸烟相关的疾病。不过，烟草行业2011年的工商税利总计约7,530亿元。
     那么出售和消费烟草是件好事还是件坏事呢？对政府来说，有利有弊。虽然出售给国内消费者和出口国外带来了宝贵的财政收入，但是政府为饱受吸烟相关疾病之苦的患者提供更多医疗保健服务所需的费用连年增加。烟民的代价甚至更高，因为吸烟相关疾病影响越来越多的人，其中有些人还没活到人的正常寿命就死了。除此之外还有二手烟的影响：无辜的人生昌考研写作真题之外，其他国内英语考试的写作真题也考过三次"健康"相关的话题，分别是2002年英语专业四级的"保持健康最好的方式"、2003年英语专业四级的"保持一个良好的心境"以及2008年12月六级的"心理健康"。

     smoker 烟民
     exceed 超过
     current 目前的
     cigarette 香烟
     trillion 一万亿
     smoking-related disease 吸烟相关疾病
     tobacco industry 烟草行业
     consumption 消费
     tobacco 烟草
     export 出口
     financial return 财政收入
     health care 医疗保健
     patient 患者
     second-hand smoke 二手烟
     innocent 无辜的人
     medical condition 疾病
     ban 禁止
     feasible 可行的

1　The tobacco companies insist that they contribute greatly to the world economy by paying taxes to the government and employing a large number of workers.
     烟草公司坚称，他们通过向政府缴税以及聘用大量职员对世界经济作出了巨大的贡献。
2　If we have to spend more and more money providing medical care for those who suffer from smoking-related diseases, the notion of boosting economic growth by producing tobacco is not justifiable.
     如果我们不得不花费越来越多的钱为那些患吸烟相关疾病的人提供医疗保健服务，那么通过烟草生产来促进经济发展的观念就站不住脚了。