Amid the nationwide furor over the Senate draft health-care bill, a public-health victory has gone mostly unnoticed. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the estimated number of middle and high school students who are tobacco users dropped from 4.7 million in 2015 to 3.9 million in 2016. This was largely driven by a reduction in the number of teenagers using e-cigarettes, which are less harmful than regular cigarettes but still contain nicotine. The downturn is a success for advocates and officials who have worked to curb teen tobacco use — but it should not be heralded as the end of the road.
Teenage smoking has long been one of the most serious public health issues. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and 9 in 10 American smokers had their first taste of tobacco before the age of 18, although policies to curb teen smoking showed signs of success for a time, youth tobacco rates remained stagnant between 2011 and 2015. During this period, the use of e-cigarettes among high school students increased by a staggering 900 percent.
With these statistics in mind, the recent decline in teen tobacco and e-cigarette use is an encouraging signal that interventions may be working. It is difficult to determine causation, but experts have attributed the drop to a range of federal, state and local policies designed to dissuade young adults from using tobacco, such as increasing tobacco taxes and expanding antismoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes and other new products. States have run targeted media campaigns that work alongside federal efforts, such as the Food and Drug Administration’s “Real Cost” campaign and the CDC’s “Tips from Former Smokers”. The CDC report suggests that at least some of these strategies have been effective.
But the report also highlights challenges that lie ahead. Millions of teenagers across the country are still using tobacco in some form, and the introduction of new tobacco products could drive up rates. There are also significant disparities among states and communities: Rural, low-income, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth are particularly at risk due to targeted marketing and policy variation between different jurisdictions. This makes federal regulation by the FDA all the more important.
The FDA, however, has delayed the enforcement of new regulations on e-cigarettes and cigars. Delays are commonplace in new administrations, but it is important that the agency take up these stricter standards after the three-month postponement. It would be a pity if these long-awaited signs of progress were undercut because the FDA declined to do its job.
5. According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teenage smoking（ ）.
6. Which of the following is true of the reason for the drop of teenage smoking?
7. Who should shoulder more responsibility for curbing teen smoking in the author’s eye?
8. Which of the following could best summarize the text?
问题1选项
A.decreased slightly between 2015 and 2016
B.mainly took place in elementary schools
C.recently experienced a gorgeous reduction
D.was largely connected with death rate
问题2选项
A.The American Senate passed a health-care bill to curb teen smoking.
B.The government issued various laws and policies to control tobacco use.
C.The advocates and officials have worked hard to restrain smoking.
D.The teenagers are more aware of the death-causing result from smoking.
问题3选项
A.The secondary schools where students attend the classes.
B.The CDC which produced the report on teenage smoking.
C.The social media organizing campaigns against teen smoking.
D.The FDA making federal regulation on banning tobacco use.
问题4选项
A.A decline in teen smoking—The FDA’S delay could weaken that progress
B.A pubic-heath victory—The CDC’s teen smoking report displayed a hope
C.An important difference—The states and communities faced teen smoking challenge
D.A serious public-health issue—The government took both risks and opportunities
5.【试题答案】C
【试题解析】客观细节题。由题干关键词“report”可以定位到第一段第二句According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the estimated number of middle and high school students who are tobacco users dropped from 4.7 million in 2015 to 3.9 million in 2016.（根据美国疾病控制与预防中心的一份最新报告显示，美国吸烟的中学生数量从2015年的470万下降到了2016年的390万。），说明美国吸烟的青少年减少了。因此C选项“最近经历了一次可喜的下降”正确。A选项“在2015至2016年间稍微下降”，由原文可知，从2015到2016年中学生吸烟数量下降了80万，不是小幅度下降，所以A错误。B选项“主要发生在小学”，与原文的middle and high school students（初中和高中学生）不符，所以B错误。D选项“很大程度上与死亡率有关”在文中没有提及，所以D错误。
6.【试题答案】B
【试题解析】客观细节题。由题干可以定位到文章第三段第一、二句With these statistics in mind, the recent decline in teen tobacco and e-cigarette use is an encouraging signal that interventions may be working. It is difficult to determine causation, but experts have attributed the drop to a range of federal, state and local policies designed to dissuade young adults from using tobacco, such as increasing tobacco taxes and expanding antismoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes and other new products.（考虑到这些数据，最近青少年吸烟和电子烟使用的减少是一个令人鼓舞的信号，表明干预措施可能正在起作用。很难确定其中的因果关系，但专家将其归因于联邦、州和地方政府一系列旨在劝阻年轻人吸烟的政策，比如提高烟草税，将反吸烟法令扩大到电子烟和其他新产品。），说明青少年吸烟率下降的原因是一系列旨在劝阻年轻人使用烟草的联邦、州和地方出台的政策。因此B选项“政府发布了各种各样的法律和政策来控制烟草的使用”正确。A选项“美国参议院通过了一项医疗法案来控制青少年吸烟”，由文章第一段第一句Amid the nationwide furor over the Senate draft health-care bill, a public-health victory has gone mostly unnoticed.（在全国范围内对参议院医改法案草案的争论中，一场公共卫生的胜利却大多不为人知。）可知，参议院没有通过医疗法案来控制青少年吸烟，所以A错误。C选项“倡导者和官员非常努力地控制吸烟”，原文是说青少年吸烟数量下降对于那些致力于遏制青少年吸烟的倡导者和官员来说是一次成功，并不是说两者之间有因果关系，所以C错误。D选项“青少年越来越意识到吸烟会导致死亡”在文中没有提及，所以D错误。
7.【试题答案】D
【试题解析】推理判断题。由题干可以定位到文章第四段最后一句This makes federal regulation by the FDA all the more important.（这使得美国食品药品监督管理局出台的联邦法规更加重要。），说明作者认为美国食品药品监督管理局应该承担更多遏制青少年吸烟的责任。因此D选项“可以制定禁止烟草使用的联邦法规的美国食品药品监督管理局”正确。A选项“学生上课的中学”，B选项“提出关于青少年吸烟报告的美国疾病控制与预防中心”，C选项“组织反青少年吸烟运动的社会媒体”均不符合题意，所以A，B，C错误。
8.【试题答案】A
【试题解析】主旨大意题。由全文可知，文章主要介绍美国青少年吸烟数量有所下降，但是最后两段重点揭示了控制青少年吸烟还会遇到很多挑战，尤其是美国食品药品监督管理局推迟了对电子烟和雪茄的新规定的执行，这将会削弱已经取得的进步。因此A选项“青少年吸烟数量下降——美国食品药品监督管理局的延期可能会削弱已经取得的进步”正确。B选项“公共卫生的胜利——美国疾病控制与预防中心有关青少年吸烟的报告表现出了希望”，由原文可知报告更多强调了未来的挑战，所以B错误。C选项“重要差异——美国各州和社区面临着青少年吸烟的挑战”，原文没有提及重大差异，所以C错误。D选项“严重的公共卫生问题——政府接受了风险和机遇”，没有涉及原文的关键词teen smoking（青少年吸烟），不能概括文章主要内容，所以D错误。
