趣谈英国：为什么女性比男性更喜欢吸烟？

Women smoking - they've overtaken men in the habit in the north east partly because of influences on girls which are 'more insidious than mere peer pressure'英国东北部的女性比男性更嗜好抽烟，部分由于女性“对社交压力更敏感”。Their survey has just found that women smokers now outnumber men in the region, which according to Dr Andrew Russell of the uni's Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience is globally rare. Stress and its worsening by recession almost certainly play a part, but why more on women? What other causes may there be?Andrew Russell博士进行了一项“危害、风险和恢复力”的调查，调查结果发现，女性吸烟人数在该地区已经超过男性，而这一现象在全球非常罕见。由于经济不景气而造成的巨大压力是导致吸烟人数上升的一大原因，但为什么增多的吸烟者会是女性？这背后还有什么其他原因吗？A public discussion tomorrow, Tuesday, organised by the institute and Durham city's Forum for Health hopes to make some progress in finding out. It's being held at the Dales Suite, Collingwood College, Durham University and organisers are looking for leads to new empirical studies, as well as giving their own opinions and hearing others.学院组织了一次公开讨论会，将于明天即周二展开。达拉谟城市的健康搜查论坛希望经过这次讨论会，能够对导致女性吸烟人数居高不下的原因有所发现。此次讨论会选址于达拉谟大学考林伍德学院中的Dales套房，发起者们希望能探讨出一条引领大家通往新的实证研究的道路，同时也将在会议中表达各自的观点、聆听他人的想法。Here's what Dr Russell says in advance: 下面是Russell博士的事先讲话："Men's smoking rates have declined dramatically over the past few years in the north east and now appear to be lower than the national average. Women's have not declined nearly so fast - they appear to have plateaued at a level higher than the national average.”“近几年，东北地区的男性吸烟率已大幅下降，目前已降至英国平均吸烟率以下。而女性吸烟率并没有这么迅速的削减，目前已大致稳定在一个高于平均吸烟率的水平。”“Smoking rates are highest in areas of greatest economic deprivation and also go up in times of recession.We need to consider whether for some women, smoking is a response to stress in their lives,one of the few 'pleasures' that are relatively easily acquired.”“那些经济匮乏最严重的地区往往也是吸烟率最高的地区，并且随着经济衰退吸烟率逐渐上升。我们要考虑的是，对于女性而言，她们是否将吸烟作为生活压力的一种应对方式，一种少有的又较易获得的方式。”"but the tobacco industry has had a large part to play in encouraging more women to take up smoking by perpetuating the myth of smoking as glamorous, risqué and a form of defiance.New brands come out all the time specifically aimed at women.""但是烟草业却在诱使更多女性吸烟方面有着很大功劳，他们素来将吸烟这一行为美化成迷人而又叛逆的。针对女性的烟草品牌也总是层出不穷地出现。”"We're proposing a cross-cultural study looking at women's relationship to tobacco in other societies in order to understand how best to tackle the situation in the North East of England. I'll be outlining my plans at the meeting."“我们提出了一个跨文化的课题，主要关于其他社会中女性与吸烟的关系，我们希望以此来了解怎样能最便利地解决英国东北地区的情况。届时我会在讨论中列举出我的具体计划。”His colleague Dr Sue Lewis has meanwhile specialised on trying to find out why women and girls are getting the habit so young. She says:同时，他的同事Sue Lewis博士，正在研究女性和女孩养成这一陋习如此之早的原因。"We need to understand the particular issues faced by young smokers – and those trying not to be smokers – in disadvantaged communities; what particular pressures they faced when they started smoking, what factors encouraged continued smoking and what makes it particularly difficult to quit. "“我们要了解年轻吸烟者所面临的具体问题，以及那些生活在贫困地区的不想成为烟鬼的人们。究竟是什么样的压力让他们开始吸烟？又是什么样的因素促使他们持续不断地吸？让戒烟变得如此之难？”