Smoking in your own home in Thailand may now be considered a crime, if the smoke is considered harmful to other people in the house.
The new law, Family Protection and Development Promotion Act, aiming at controlling smoking at home which might be hazardous for others’ health living under the same roof, was initiated by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and was announced in the Royal Gazette on May 22, 2019. It came into force on August 20.
According to the center for research and knowledge management for tobacco control, at the Faculty of Medical Science of Mahidol University, there are about 4.9 million households where one or more family members smoke. An average of 10.3 million people have unwittingly (不知不觉地) become passive smokers because they’ve been breathing smoke at home. Scientific studies show that passive smokers are at greater risk of being affected by cancer. Of 75 child patients from houses where smoking is practiced, 76% of them were found to have nicotine traces in their urine (尿液), with 43% of them having nicotine content exceeding (超过) permissible levels.
Smoking at home also “may lead to physical or emotional violence” because of aggressiveness when there is a lack of smoking, and might as well ruin relationships between smokers and nonsmoking family members.
According to the new law, anyone who thinks they are affected by domestic smoking can report to government departments concerned so that officials will be sent to investigate and take legal action against the smokers. Once convicted (证明有罪的), the court may order a person to receive treatment to quit smoking in an attempt to protect the person’s family.
1. What does the underlined word “hazardous” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Guilty. | B．Beneficial. |
| C．Influential. | D．Dangerous. |
| A．By listing figures. |
| B．By giving examples. |
| C．By comparing the differences. |
| D．By explaining the reasons. |
| A．Smoking anywhere in Thailand is considered a crime. |
| B．Passive smokers are more likely to have lung cancer. |
| C．76% of the children in Thailand have nicotine traces in their urine. |
| D．Smoking at home may hurt other family members both physically and emotionally. |
| A．Anybody must report to the officials once they are affected. |
| B．Officials will take legal action against all the people concerned. |
| C．Smoking in one’s own home in Thailand may now be considered a crime. |
| D．The court may order a smoker to stop smoking to protect all nonsmokers. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Are you the only child in your family? If so, do you enjoy it or do you want more siblings（兄弟姐妹）?
On May 31, a key meeting of the Communist Party of China unveiled a policy that would allow all couples to have up to three children.
The move is expected to maximize the population's role in driving economic and social growth, since this is a critical time for China to transform the world's most populous country into a powerhouse（强国）with a quality workforce, according to the National Health Commission.
The three-child policy is also expected to prevent the decline in the nation's birthrate and address the challenge of a rapidly aging population, China Daily reported.
China's annual number of newborns has fallen for four years in a row. The country's total birthrate—the average number of children born to each woman—stood at 1.3 in 2020. The number is below the rate of 2.1 that would maintain a stable population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The declining birthrate has also brought a sharp increase in the proportion of the population aged 60 or above, rising from 10.3 percent to 18.7 percent in the past decade. An increasingly elderly population will increase the cost of labor and the pressure on the social security net. It also means there will be a lack of young labor force. Therefore, it's not good for economic growth, according to Chen Youhua, a professor at Nanjing University.
In fact, the new birth policy is a step to further relax the family planning policy. The one-child policy was introduced in the 1970s and aimed to control the fast-growing population. Then in 2013, China allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child, and in 2016, all couples were allowed to have two children.
However, not all people have shown their support for this latest policy. Many couples complained about the rising costs of raising a child. A netizen named Qinfeng commented, "High cost of education and both the physical and mental exhaustion stopped me from having more than one child." Also, many women are reluctant（不情愿的）to give birth because that could mean sacrificing their career prospects, according to Mu Guangzong, a professor at Peking University.
In that case, Mu noted that it is better to implement supporting measures with the three-child policy, such as more preferential（优惠的）policies for couples that would ease their parental burden.
1. What might NOT be the main cause for the new policy?| A．To increase the population's role. |
| B．To stop the declining birthrate. |
| C．To improve the child- care service system. |
| D．To address the challenge of the aging population. |
| A．China's annual number of newborns has fallen for decades. |
| B．The government will protect the legal rights of women in employment. |
| C．Measures will be taken to improve the high-quality education. |
| D．The new policy allows couples to have up to three children. |
| A．To carry out. | B．To get along with. |
| C．To make use of. | D．To have a command of. |
| A．To show his love of children healthcare. |
| B．To introduce the new family size policy. |
| C．To share his concerns about birthrate. |
| D．To emphasize the physical and mental exhaustion. |
【推荐2】When your alarm clock rings and you drag yourself out of bed, you probably wonder: Why on earth does school have to start so early?
Fortunately, there is a new law to back you up—or better still, science. A law in California requires that public middle schools begin classes no earlier than 8:00 am and that high schools start no earlier than 8:30 am. The law will go into effect by July 1, 2022.
Starting school at 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning may not sound like a big change, but it could mean one more hour of sleep for students who used to start school at 7:30 or even earlier. “The effect of that one hour is something they will be feeling as 40-year-old adults,” Sumit Bhargava, a sleep expert at Stanford University, told The New York Times. He said that not having enough sleep can affect students’ mental health and increase the risk of fatness and diabetes.
In the short run, students’ school performances should improve almost immediately. Kyla Wahlstrom, a researcher at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development, found that students who have enough sleep are more active in class and get better grades.
Some might say that urging students to go to bed earlier could have been a much easier solution than changing the school timetable across an entire state. But according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, teenagers go through biological changes when they enter adolescence, which makes it difficult for them to fall asleep before 11:00 pm. So when school starts at 8:00 or earlier, they can hardly get the ideal 8.5-9.5 hours of sleep that experts suggest they need to do their best in the daytime.
This is why when the new law came out, its author, Anthony Portantino, said, “Generations of children will come to appreciate this historic day and our governor for taking bold action.”
1. What does the first paragraph serve as?| A．A background. | B．An explanation. | C．An introduction. | D．A definition. |
| A．The new law is of lasting benefit to students. |
| B．Lack of sleep affects adults more than children. |
| C．Enough sleep guarantees students’ mental health. |
| D．The amount of sleep people need changes with age. |
| A．Less sleep easily makes for health problems. |
| B．California is pushing back school start times. |
| C．A law to start the school day later takes effect. |
| D．Teenagers’ biological changes affect their sleep patterns. |
【推荐3】John Lubbock, a British member of the Parliament (议会), led to the first law to safeguard Britain's heritage-the Ancient Monuments Bill. How did it happen?
By the late 1800s more and more people were visiting Stonehenge for a day out. But the visitors left behind rubbish and leftover food. It encouraged rats that made holes at the stones' foundations, weakening them They also cut pieces off the stones for souvenirs and carved pictures into them, says architectural critic Jonathan Glancey. It was the same for other pre-historic remains, which were disappearing fast Threats also included farmers and landowners as the ancient stones got in the way of working on the fields and were a free source of building materials.
Shocked and angry, Lubbock took up the fight. When he heard Britain's largest ancient stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire was up for sale in 1871, he persuaded its owners to sell it to him and the stone circle was saved.
"Lubbock aroused national attention for ancient monuments "says Glancey." he did for heritage what Darwin did for natural history."
But Lubbock couldn't buy every threatened site. He knew laws were needed and tabled the Ancient Monuments Bill. It proposed government powers to take any pre-historic site under threat away from uncaring owners.
For eight years he tried and failed to get the bill through parliament finally in 1882, it was voted into law. It had however been watered down; people had to willingly give their ancient monuments to the government. But what it did do was plant the idea that the state could preserve Britain s heritage better than private owners.
1. What's the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The threats caused to the ancient remains. |
| B．The facts that people explored the heritages. |
| C．The history of the UK's ancient remains. |
| D．The anger Lubbock expressed about the relics. |
| A．He couldn't afford a site any more. |
| B．He wanted to stir up more attention. |
| C．He wanted to make contributions as Darwin. |
| D．He couldn't save every site with his own effort. |
| A．It failed to be voted into the law. |
| B．It was got through as expected in the end. |
| C．It allowed people to sell their monuments. |
| D．It made people trust the government's protection. |
【推荐1】When Ariel Cordova-Rojas rode her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, last November, she planned to go hiking and bird-watching. A mile into her walk, she found a female mute swan (疣鼻天鹅) near the water’s edge. Cordova-Rojas, 30, who had worked at the Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation centre in Manhattan, knew that mute swans can be angry and ready to attack. But as she approached this one, it didn’t move.
She was certain that the bird needed medical attention. Cordova-Rojas put her jacket over the bird’s head to keep it calm, carefully picked it up, and held it in her arms. And then a thought struck her: What do I do now?
Her best hope was the rehab (康复) centre, but that was across the East River and clear on the other side of town. How was she going to transport a 17-pound swan on her bike all that way? Luckily, some strangers driving by offered her, her bike, and the swan a lift to a nearby subway station.
On the subway, no one seemed particularly frightened by the feathered passenger. One guy, says Cordova-Rojas, was “sitting right in front of me on his phone. I don’t know if he noticed there was a swan in front of him.”
Cordova-Rojas called the rehab centre on the road, and Tristan Higgin-botham, an animal-care manager, picked her up at the subway station and drove the bird, the bike, and the rescuer to the centre. There, staff members determined that the swan might have lead poisoning (中毒), caused by taking weights used on fishing lines.
The staff got the swan back up on her feet. Sadly, even with all that care, the swan got a serious infection (感染). Two months after Cordova-Rojas came to her rescue, she passed away.
It’s a disappointing ending, but the real story is just how far some people are willing to go to save a swan in the big city-literally. In all, Cordova-Rojas travelled two hours by foot, car, and subway while honking (按喇叭) her bike. Says Higgin-botham, “That’s the perfect summary of who she is,”
1. Why did Cordova-Rojas put her jacket over the bird’s head?
| A．To catch the swan. | B．To calm the swan down. |
| C．To keep the swan warm. | D．To block the swan’s sight. |
| A．She rode her bike. | B．She got there on foot. |
| C．She took a bus. | D．She was offered a lift. |
| A．She had lead poisoning. | B．She was injured on her feet. |
| C．She was trapped by a fishing net. | D．She nearly died from hunger. |
| A．How to Protect Birds | B．Strangers Kind Action |
| C．Honk If You Love Birds | D．The Last Song of the Swan |
【推荐2】Alpha, Beta, Delta…these Greek letters used to only appear in our math classes but are now popping up in news headlines.
Now, it’s Lambda. As the Delta variant spreads throughout communities in Asia, Europe and the United States, another variant, Lambda, is spreading rapidly throughout South America, Forbes reported on Aug 10.
On May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a naming system for variants of the coronavirus that uses letters of the Greek alphabet. Before that, the public had to call a variant its scientific name or refer to it based on where it was identified.
For example, a strain (菌株) of COVID-19 identified in South Africa in late 2020 was called variant 501Y. V2 or B. 1.351. Media also called the same virus. “the South African variant”. Now, everyone calls it “Beta”.
Compared to complicated scientific names, the Greek letters are much easier to remember. “It is a lot easier for a radio newsreader to say ‘Delta’ than bee-one-six-one-seven-two,” Jeffrey Barrett, a UK statistical geneticist told Nature.
WHO hopes this change will help combat the stigma (污名) associated with geography-based names. “I can understand why people just call it the South African variant-they don’t mean anything by it,” Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist in South Africa, told Nature. “The problem is, if we allow it to continue, there are people who have an a goal and will use it.”
“No country should be stigmatized for detecting and reporting variants,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, wrote on Twitter.
As the virus is still evolving, 11 mutations (变种) have been named as recently as Sept 1. What if the 24 Greek letters are not enough? “We will possibly run out of the Greek alphabet, but we’re already looking at the next series of names,” Van Kerkhove told The Telegraph. “We’re actually considering star constellations (星座).”
Currently, the Virus Evolution Working Group and WHO’s legal team are double checking proposals to “make sure we don’t upset anyone with these names”, Van Kerkhove told The Telegraph.
In the future, will there be a “Virgo variant” or an “Orion variant”? Let’s hope not, but only time will tell.
1. How did the Lambda variant get its name?| A．It was named after the place where it’s widespread. |
| B．It was named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. |
| C．It was named for a scientific term. |
| D．It was named after the place where it was identified. |
| A．Problems scientific variant names can cause. |
| B．The importance of reporting variants immediately. |
| C．Reasons for no longer naming variants after places. |
| D．Advantages of naming the variants after Greek letters. |
| A．The current naming system can cause legal problems. |
| B．There might be more variants than Greek letters. |
| C．People prefer to name variants after stars. |
| D．The current naming system caused confusion. |
| A．Renaming of COVID-19 variants |
| B．Greek letters that appear in the math classes |
| C．A strain of COVID-19 identified in South Africa |
| D．A battle of fighting against the stigma associated with geography-based names |
【推荐3】Andrea Yoch loves her adult sons, but would also love not to live with them. This is especially true in the 2, 200-square-foot rental in St. Paul, where she and her husband moved after the boys left their childhood home (a 5,000-square-foot property with a pool). But now Ben, 20, and Ryan, 23 are crammed with their parents in a house where a movie playing in one room can be heard in almost any other.
After her sons showed up due to the lockdown after the Coronavirus crisis struck—Ben from Boston, where he is a college student, and Ryan from New York, where he was starting out as an assistant advertising account executive—Ms. Yoch rushed to set up temporary offices in a bedroom and a basement that now also functions as a super crowded gym. “I would give anything for them to restart their lives,” she said.
As the pandemic continues, Wall Street bankers, Uber drivers, academics, artists and many other adults have given up their independent lives and migrated home. Some fled heavily populated cities for the rural suburban houses where they grew up and for the promise of home-cooked meals and free laundry. Others ended up in downsized spaces designed for empty nesters or in apartments already shared with other family members, such as grandparents or teenage siblings.
Parents caught by the increase of layoffs and canceled contracts found themselves feeding grown children who were in the same position. Mothers who had grown accustomed to freedom were suddenly expected to go back to cooking and cleaning.
“Some parents see this as a welcome surprise, but it can also add a lot of financial stress,” said Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at the investment bank Stifel. “You can’t assume that parents are necessarily in a better-off position than their adult children: a lot of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have enough savings to accommodate extra people living in their households.”
1. Which word best describes Ms. Yoch’s life with her two sons?| A．Inconvenient. | B．Satisfying. |
| C．Disappointing. | D．Exciting. |
| A．People without jobs. | B．Grown-ups with no houses. |
| C．Children staying abroad. | D．Parents with no children around. |
| A．Because they are too busy to take care of them. |
| B．Because they want their kids to be independent. |
| C．Because they are in no better financial situation. |
| D．Because they have already sold or rented out their houses. |
| A．The generation gap between parents and their children. |
| B．The problems caused by two generations living together. |
| C．The parents’ life being affected by children in the lockdown. |
| D．The economic crisis brought about by the deadly Coronavirus. |
