Should smoke be banned in public?

All events have proved that smoking will do harm to people, and it is thought to be a bad habit by doctor. But some people are habituating to cigarette than to alcohol. Many people are concerned at the effects of the situation. I think that all countries should ban smoking in public places.

Smoking is bad for people’s health, especially for non-smokers, so smoking in public places should be forbidden. It can damage the body's nutrient component and make disease invades the body. I heard of that heavy smokers take longer to fall asleep, wake up more during the night and sleep more lightly. Smoke from cigarettes is a carcinogen, it may lead to cancer. What is more, there are about one million people died for these causes each year (China News Net, 2006). My uncle had a lung cancer because of smoking excessively when I was five. The doctor has advised him to abstain from smoking at one time. But he found it very hard to break the cigarette habit. He was so bigoted that it was not impossible to break off smoking. When no one was looking he took a surreptitious puff on his cigarette and expelled the smoke slowly. At last, his death was a great distress to all the family. In fact, it’s more harmful to people who don’t smoke than the smoker, even though non-smoker who inhales the smoke is less than smoker. At the same time, the smoke make non-smoker feel uncomfortable. We would prefer to sit in the non-smoking section when we choose a seat. We must open the window to let the smoke out when we have a table in the smoking section. A survey

(Chinese Medicine newspaper, 2008) about passive smoking of children is worrying. Smoking was more prevalent among children who came from households where at least one parent smoked compared with those from no smoking households. If the living room always be filled with choking clouds of smoke, the children will get sick. People who smoke incur a great danger to their family and themselves (Chinese Medicine newspaper, 2008).

Smoking in public will affect the environment; it means that the pollution of smoke from cigarettes more than the gas of cars, and it may lead to fire. The problem of pollution is also of great social concern. Smoke generated by smoking will have an effect on pollution. Air pollution by a mixture of smoke and fog. Survey (The Western Daily, 2007) shows that it has 30 mg carbon monoxide in the city after a burning cigarette out. According to the determination, indoor pollution come from cigarette is even more harmful to people than the pollution of a car on the road. We have an old saying: where there is no smoke, there is no fire. Fires are often caused by cigarette ends which people carelessly throw away. We always hear about that someone dropped a cigarette end in the forest carelessly the dry leaves caught fire. Smoking in sofa or smoking after drink wine, once cigarette butts and ashes fell in blankets, mosquito nets, clothes or the sofa, cigarette butts and so on, are easy to trigger a fire.

The conflict between smoker and non-smoker may be caused by smoke. The people who hate the smoke may be angry with smoker. It may cause

much dispute, such as a quarrel. The problem will cause a great deal of dissension between smoker and non-smoker. It’s not conducive to social harmony. I always hear of some news like that someone dispute with their classmate because of smoking. 5 October, Mr. Yang from the Capital Airport returns to the city by a taxi. While in motion, Mr. Yang was stopped to smoking by the driver, then he got involved in a quarrel about the smoking (Lei Na, 2006). The effects of smoking become a problem of social disharmony, many people worried about the effects of smoking, a confused disturbance far greater than its cause merits.

People smoke at the expense of other people's interests in public places. They should learn to restrain themselves. Introduction of related laws and regulations should be coming as soon as possible. So in my personal view, smoking in public places should be forbidden.

Bibliography

1 -,（2006）, << 中国每年有百万人死于吸烟 拟立法划定禁烟区域>> , [online], last accessed on 26 January 2009， at URL:

.cn/c/edu/2006-05-30/07259064081s.shtml

2 -,（2007）, <<吸烟与环境污染之间的关系>> , [online], last accessed on 26 January 2009， at URL:

/culture/encyclopedia/others/200712/20071213163044_281

589.shtml

3 -,（2008） ,<<被动吸烟对孩子的危害程度>> , [online], last accessed on 26 January 2009， at URL: .cn/health/08/3006/0848114837.shtml

4 -,（2007）, <<冬季防火建议>> , [online], last accessed on 26 January 2009， at URL: .cn/landscape/text.asp?id=39082

5 -,（2006）,<< 拒绝乘客吸烟起争执>> , [online], last accessed on 26 January 2009，at URL: .cn/GB/4913628.html

 

第二篇：English Essay

Population Growth

The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity and doom. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant.

According to ecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B. C., followed the innovations of tool making and tool using. But when the new power from the use of tools has been exploited, the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable.

The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when mankind began to keep herds, plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated.

These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if, technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end.

Either way - contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth - population can be expected in the long run to adjust to productivity. And when one takes this view, population growth is seen to represent economic progress and human triumph rather than social failure.

人口增长

以往几个世纪人口的增长并不能证明人口会无限地直线向上增长直到毁灭的地步。相反地，人口统计史料证明人口的增长完全不是稳定的。古生态学家爱德华·狄维认为，在过去100万年间出现过3次重大的变动。第一次在公元前100万年左右，随着在工具的制作和使用上的革新而出现人口迅速增长。

但当工具的使用所产生的新动力被充分利用以后，世界人口增长率下降并且趋于稳定。第二次人口剧增大约始于人类开始蓄畜、垦耕的10，000年前。一旦最初的生产力增长被吸收殆尽，人口的增长再次衰落。以上两段说明，若技术革新的成果开始减少，从250到350年前就在西方开始出现的并且目前还在继续的人口迅速增长可能也会放慢。当然，当前的知识革命也许会持续下去而无法预见其末来。

无论如何，与那种认为人口以几何级数持续增长的观点相反，从长远的观点来说，人口可望受到生产力的调节。接受了这一观点，人口的增长就可以被看成是经济进步和人类胜利的标志，而不是社会衰败的标志。

Police and Communities

Few institutions are more important to an urban community than its police, yet there are few subjects historians know so little about. Most of the early academic interests developed among political scientists and sociologists, who usually examined their own contemporary problems with only a nod toward the past.

Even the public seemed concerned only during crime waves, periods of blatant corruption, or after a particularly grisly episode. Party regulars and reformers generally viewed the institution from a political perspective; newspapers and magazines - the nineteenth century's media - emphasized the vivid and spectacular.

Yet urban society has always vested a wide, indeed awesome, responsibility in its police. Not only were they to maintain order, prevent crime, and protect life and property, but historically they were also to fight fires, suppress vice, assist in health services, supervise elections, direct traffic, inspect buildings, and locate truants and runaways.

In addition, it was assumed that the police were the special guardians of the citizens' liberties and the community's tranquillity. Of course, the performance never matched expectations. The record contains some success, but mostly failure; some effective leadership, but largely official incompetence and betrayal.

The notion of a professional police force in America is a creation of the twentieth century; not until our own time have cities begun to take the steps necessary to produce modern departments.

警察与社区

对城市社区来说，很少有比它的警察更为重要的机构了，但少有课题像历史学家们对此了解得那样少。早期的学术兴趣是在政治科学家和社会学家中发展起来的，他们一般只研究他们自己当代的问题而对过去的问题只是偶尔带过。

甚至公众似乎也仅仅在犯罪浪潮、明目张胆的贪污或特别的恐怖事件发生时才关心。政党的忠诚支持者和改革家们通常是从政治的前途来看待警察这个机构；而报纸和杂志-19世纪的传播媒介-则着重活泼生动和惊人的事件。可是城市社会总是把广泛得可怕的责任交给警察。他们不仅维持秩序、防止犯罪、保护生命财产，而且在过去还要救火、镇压罪恶、协助医疗服务、监督选举、指挥交通、检查建筑物、寻找逃学学生和搜捕逃犯。

除此以外，警察还被认为是公民自由和社会稳定的特别保护者。自然，警察的表现并不尽如人意。他们的记录中有成功者，但多数是失败的；有高效率的领导，但多半的人在职务上无能和不讲信用。专业警察部队的概念在美国还是20世纪的产物；直到我们这个时代，一些城市才开始采取设立现代化部门的必要步骤。

Food and Health

The food we eat seems to have profound effects on our health. Although science has made enormous steps in making food more fit to eat, it has, at the same time, made many foods unfit to eat. Some research has shown that perhaps eighty percent of all human illnesses are related to diet and forty percent of cancer is related to the diet as well, especially cancer of the colon. Different cultures are more prone to contract certain illnesses because of the food that is characteristic in these cultures.

That food is related to illness is not a new discovery. In 1945, government researchers realized that nitrates and nitrites, commonly used to preserve color in meats, and other food additives, caused cancer. Yet, these carcinogenic additives remain in our food, and it becomes more difficult all the time to know which things in the packaging labels of processed food are helpful or harmful.

The additives which we eat are not all so direct. Farmers often give penicillin to beef and poultry, and because of this, penicillin has been found in the milk of treated cows. Sometimes similar drugs are administered to animals not for medicinal purposes, but for financial reasons. The farmers are simply trying to fatten the animals in order to obtain a higher price on the market. Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has tried repeatedly to control these procedures, the practices continue.

食品与健康

我们所吃的食物似乎对我们的健康有深远的影响。 尽管科学上已取得许多进展，使食物更适合我们食用，但与此同时它也使许多食物不宜食用了。

一些研究已经表明，人类大概有80%的疾病与饮食有关，40%的癌症，特别是结肠癌，也与饮食有关。 不同的文化会使人们更易患某些疾病，这是由这些文化的人们喜好的食物所致。 食物与疾病有关并不是新发现。 19xx年，政府部门的科研工作者了解到，被广泛用于肉类以保持肉类色泽的硝酸盐、亚硝酸盐和其他的添加剂可诱发癌症。 可是这些致癌物质依然存在于我们的食物之中。 与此同时，要想知道加工食品标签上的哪些成分对健康有利，哪些成分对健康不利，变得更加困难了。

我们吃到的这些添加物并非都是如此直接的。 农民常给牛和家禽注射青霉素，因而在受过注射的牛所产牛奶里发现青霉素。 有时让家禽服用这类药物并非是为了治病，而是为了经济上的缘故。 农民们只是想使家畜长得更肥壮可以上市场上卖到好价钱。 虽然食物和药品管理局已一再设法控制这种情况的发生，但是这种行为仍在继续。

MARS

Mars According to the best evidence gathered by space probes and astronomers, Mars is an inhospitable planet, more similar to Earth's Moon than to Earth itself - a dry, stark, seemingly lifeless world. Mars' air pressure is equal to Earth's at an altitude of 100,000 feet. The air there is 95% carbon dioxide. Mars has no ozone layer to screen out the Sun's lethal radiation. Daytime temperatures may reach above freezing, but because the planet is blanketed by the mere wisp of an atmosphere, the heat radiates back into space. Even at the equator, the temperature drops to 50℃ ( 60 ) at night. Today there is no liquid water, although valleys and channels on the surface show evidence of having been carved by running water.

The polar ice caps are made of frozen water and carbon dioxide, and water may be frozen in the ground as permafrost. Despite these difficult conditions, certain scientists believe that there is a possibility of transforming Mars into a more Earth like planet. Nuclear reactors might be used to melt frozen gases and eventually build up the atmosphere. This in turn could create a "greenhouse effect" that would stop heat from radiating back into space. Liquid water could be thawed to form a polar ocean.

Once enough ice has melted, suitable plants could be introduced to build up the level of oxygen in the atmosphere so that, in time, the planet would support animal life from Earth and even permanent human colonies. "This was once thought to be so far in the future as to be irrelevant," said Christopher McKay, a research scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. "But now it's starting to look practical.

We could begin work in four or five decades." The idea of "terra forming" Mars, as enthusiasts call it, has its roots in science fiction. But as researchers develop a more profound understanding of how Earth's ecology supports life, they have begun to see how it may be possible to create similar conditions on Mars. Don't plan on homesteading on Mars any time soon, though. The process could take hundreds or even thousands of years to complete, and the cost would be staggering.

据宇宙探测器和天文学家收集的有力证据，火星是一个人类不能居住的星球。它不像地球，而更像月球--一个干涸、荒芜，看上去没有任何生命的世界。火星的气压相当于地球上十万英尺高空处的气压。火星大气的构成中有95%是二氧化碳，而且，火星上没有能屏蔽太阳致命射线的臭氧层。

白天，那里的温度可以达到零上，但因为包裹火星的大气层极为稀薄，热量又会辐射回宇宙中。就算是在火星赤道，夜里的温度也在 50℃。尽管火星上的山谷沟渠说明它曾经被流水蚀刻过，但如今那里已没有液态水了。极地冰帽是由固态水和二氧化碳组成的，水也有可能存在于永久冻土之中。

尽管困难重重，某些科学家依然认为有可能把火星改造成类似地球的星球。核反应可以用来融化冰冻的气体最终形成火星大气层。由此就可以产生温室效应，阻止热量散射回宇宙中。液化的水可以融化成极地海洋。足够量的冰融化后，可将地球上的植物移植上去。植物又可以向大气层提供氧气。久而久之火星就可以维持从地球过去的动物生命甚至成为人类的永久居留地。 "这一切在过去看起来遥远得近乎无稽"，国家航天局的一位研究人员，克里斯托弗·麦克凯说，"但是现在已经开始展现出可能性。四五十年后，我们就可以着手于这项

工作。"

这种支持者们称为"移居火星"的想法最早出现在科幻小说中。但随着研究者对地球上生态如何支持生命的理解越来越深入，在火星上创造类似地球环境也显得越来越现实。但千万别计划很快在火星上建造家园。这个历程需要几百乃至上千年，而且耗费将是惊人的。

The History of Chemistry

Chemistry did not emerge as a science until after the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century and then only rather slowly and laboriously. But chemical knowledge is as old as history, being almost entirely concerned with the practical arts of living. Cooking is essentially a chemical process; so is the melting of metals and the administration of drugs and poisons. This basic chemical knowledge, which was applied in most cases as a rule of thumb, was nevertheless dependent on previous experiment.

It also served to stimulate a fundamental curiosity about the processes themselves. New information was always being gained as artisans improved techniques to gain better results. The development of a scientific approach to chemistry was, however, hampered by several factors.

The most serious problem was the vast range of material available and the consequent difficulty of organizing it into some system. In addition, there were social and intellectual difficulties, chemistry is nothing if not practical; those who practice it must use their hands, they must have a certain practical flair. Yet in many ancient civilizations, practical tasks were primarily the province of a slave population.

The thinker or philosopher stood apart from this mundane world, where the practical arts appeared to lack any intellectual content or interest. The final problem for early chemical science was the element of secrecy. Experts in specific trades had developed their own techniques and guarded their knowledge to prevent others from stealing their livelihood. Another factor that contributed to secrecy was the esoteric nature of the knowledge of a alchemists, who were trying to transform base metals into gold or were concerned with the hunt for the elixir that would bestow the blessing of eternal life.

In one sense, the second of these was the more serious impediment because the records of the chemical processes that early alchemists had discovered were often written down in symbolic language intelligible to very few or in symbols that were purposely obscure.

化学的历史

化学在17世纪的科技革命后才成为一门科学，其发展是缓慢而艰难的。但化学知识却象人类历史一样古老，与人们实际生活密切相关。做饭基本上是一个化学过程。同样，金属熔炼、使用药品或毒剂也是如此。人们在大多数情况下只是粗糙地运用这些基本化学知识，但这些基本知识的确是来自于前人的实验。它们同时也激发了人们对化学本身的兴趣。匠人们利用新技术来改良工艺，就增加了对化学的了解。

但是，化学科学方法的发展却有许多阻碍的因素。其中最严重的问题就是要把浩如烟海的物质归纳为若干系统确实很困难。此外，还有社会和知识的原因。离开实际用途，化学就

毫无价值；研究化学的人必须亲自动手，这就要求他们要有很强的动手能力。但在许多古代文明中，动手的活都是奴隶的行当。思想家与哲学家与此劳碌决不沾边，因为在他们看来，实际操作技能低智而乏味。

最后，还有一个原因妨碍早期化学的发展，那就是保密。某个行家一旦发现了新技术，就竭力保密以防被人偷了饭碗。另一个原因加剧了知识封锁这是因为炼金术士的知识的神秘性。这些术士们要么想他便宜的金属变成黄金，要么期望找到一种长生不老药。从某种意义上说，这第二个因素带来了更严重的阻碍，因为早期术士们的研究成果记载于鲜为人知的或故意让人不懂的符号中。

A Special Experience

我想我大概永远也搞不清在那个早晨到底发生了什么。我情愿相信是那些海牛和我一起参加了一个新生命的庆祝仪式，而我则是它们邀请的客人。随着时间的流逝，这也成了我珍藏的记忆。

在那次意外的邂逅中，我感受到在这个巨大的星球上，生命之间的一种极致的和谐。这份记忆慢慢变成了忧伤时唱给自己的一首歌，快乐时跳起的一段舞蹈。

Walking alone on a remote beach in southwest Florida, I was startled to hear splashes and a deep sigh coming from the water just offshore.

As I squinted in the direction of the sounds, the rounded gray back of a sea creature rose amid a red froth, rolled turbulently at the surface, then sank back into the Gulf. Moments later a broad nose emerged and exhaled in a great snuffling breath. It was a manatee, and by the looks of the reddish-colored water and the way it was thrashing, it was in trouble.

I had often watched manatees in these warm coastal waters, but I'd never seen one act like this before. Usually just their big nostrils appeared for a gulp of air as they foraged on sea grasses or swam slowly to greener underwater pastures. But I also knew how common it was for these lumbering giants to be gashed by boat propellers or entangled in crab traps.

I wanted to help, but what could I do? There was no one else on the beach, and the nearest phone to call the Marine Patrol was miles away.

Tossing my beach bag onto the sand, I began wading toward the animal, who continued to

writhe as if in distress. I was still only waist deep when I came close enough to make out the bristly whiskers on the manatee's muzzle as it thrust up out of the sea. Then, to my surprise, a second muzzle, much smaller, poked up beside it.

I pushed on through the shoal water, but now the manatees were also moving toward me. Before I knew what was happening, I was in chest-deep water encircled by not one or two, but at least three blimplike bodies. I felt elated and slightly dizzy like the kid who is 'it' in a schoolyard game.

A bulbous snout emerged next to me. In the translucent water, I could clearly see the rest of the huge mammal, and there, nestled close behind her, a smaller version of her massive body.

Then, with incredible gentleness for such an enormous creature, the larger manatee nudged the little one with her paddle-shaped flipper and pushed it to the surface beside me. I wanted to reach out and touch the pudgy sea baby, but I hesitated, not knowing the rules of this inter-species encounter.

As the two slipped back underwater, two other manatees moved in from behind and slid by, one on either side, rubbing gently against my body as they swam past. They circled and repeated the action, this time followed by the mother and her calf. Emboldened by their overtures, I let my hand graze the side of the small manatee, now clinging to the mother's back, as they made their pass. Its skin felt rubbery and firm like an old fashioned hot water bottle.

The group completed several more circuits. Since they obviously enjoyed touching me, I began stroking each of them as they sidled by. When one of them rolled over for a scratch, I knew I had made the right move.

Eventually my new friends made their way off towards deeper water. I stood anchored to the spot, not wishing to break the spell, until finally the rising tide forced me back to shore.

I suppose I will never know exactly what took place that morning. I like to think that the manatees included me in their celebration of a birth; that I was welcomed to meet the newest member of their tribe. But over time I have come to cherish the experience without questions.

During that unexpected rendezvous, I felt more in tune with the rhythms of life on this vast planet than I ever have. The memory has become a song I sing to myself when I have the blues, a dance I do to celebrate joy.

And each year, during the last week of May, I pack a lunch and head for that isolated stretch of beach for a quiet little birthday picnic on the shore. After all, you never know who might show up for the party.

Facing It

How many times have you gotten upset because someone wasn’t doing their job, because your child isn’t behaving, because your partner or friend isn’t living up to his or her end of the bargain?

How many times have you been irritated when someone doesn’t do things the way you’re used to? Or when you’ve planned something carefully and things didn’t go as you’d hoped?

This kind of anger and irritation happens to all of us — it’s part of the human experience. One thing that irritates me is when people talk during a movie. Or cut me off in traffic. Or don’t wash their dishes after eating. Actually, I have a lot of these little annoyances — don’t we all?

And it isn’t always easy to find peace when you’ve become upset or irritated.

Let me let you in on a little secret to finding peace of mind: see the glass as already broken. See, the cause of our stress, anger and irritation is that things don’t go the way we like, the way we expect them to. Think of how many times this has been true for you.

And so the solution is simple: expect things to go wrong, expect things to be different than we hoped or planned, expect the unexpected to happen. And accept it.

One quick example: on our recent trip to Japan, I told my kids to expect things to go wrong — they always do on a trip. I told them, “See it as part of the adventure.”

And this worked like a charm. When we inevitably took the wrong train on a foreign-language subway system, or when it rained on the day we went to Disney Sea, or when we took three trains and walked 10 blocks only to find the National Children’s Castle closed on Mondays … they said, “It’s part of the adventure!” And it was all OK — we didn’t get too bothered.

So when the nice glass you bought inevitably falls and breaks, someday, you might get upset. But not if you see the glass as already broken, from the day you get it. You know it’ll break someday, so from the beginning, see it as already broken. Be a time-traveler, or someone with time-traveling vision, and see the future of this glass, from this moment until it inevitably breaks.

And when it breaks, you won’t be upset or sad — because it was already broken, from the day you got it. And you’ll realize that every moment you have with it is precious.

Expect your child to mess up — all children do. And don’t get so upset when they mess up, when they don’t do what they’re “supposed” to do … because they’re supposed to mess up.

Expect your partner to be less than perfect.

Expect your friend to not show up sometimes.

Expect things to go not according to plan.

Expect people to be rude sometimes.

Expect coworkers not to come through sometimes.

Expect roommates not to wash their dishes or pick up their clothes, sometimes.

Expect the glass to break.

And accept it.

You won’t change these inevitable facts — they will happen, eventually. And if you expect it to happen — even see it as already happening, before it happens — you won’t get so upset.

You won’t overreact. You’ll respond appropriately, but not overreact. You can talk to the person about their behavior, and ask them kindly to consider your feelings when they do this … but you won’t get overly emotional and blow things out of proportion.

You’ll smile, and think, “I expected that to happen. The glass was already broken. And I accept that.”

You’ll have peace of mind. And that, my friends, is a welcome surprise.