《中英對照讀新聞》Amid war, UN warns Syrians smoking in a grave health risk 聯合國警告戰火中的敘利亞民眾 抽菸嚴重危害健康

◎茅毅

The World Health Organization has identified another grave risk to the health of Syrians in their war-torn country： tobacco.

在戰火蹂躪的敘利亞，世界衛生組織（WHO）已發現另一個對敘國民眾健康的嚴重風險：香菸。

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In a statement last week, the U.N. health agency warned that ’’notwithstanding the current crisis in the country,’’ Syrian officials should collaborate with the U.N. health agency to control the use of tobacco and water pipes among its people, especially young adults, women and teenagers.

上週在一份聲明中，該聯合國保健機構警告，「儘管該國目前陷入危機」，敘國官員仍應與世衛組織聯手控管其人民使用香菸及水煙，尤其是年輕成人、女性與青少年。

WHO’s Syria representative, Dr. Elizabeth Hoff, warned that using tobacco and water pipes endangers the health and lives of smokers and people around them. Hoff said using water pipes to smoke shisha, a common pastime in the Middle East, is 20 times more dangerous than cigarette smoking. She urged Syrian officials to implement a ’’plain packaging’’ approach for cigarettes to reduce their ’’attractiveness and glamour.’’

WHO派駐敘國的代表霍芙博士警告，使用香菸和水煙會危及吸菸者與他們周遭人的健康和生命。水煙是中東常見的消遣，她指出，利用水管抽水煙（shisha：水煙的阿拉伯文）比抽菸還更危險20倍。她呼籲敘國官員對香菸採取「簡易包裝」的作法，以降低菸品的「吸引力和誘惑」。

Syria’s war is estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people amid the rise of the Islamic State group. But Dr. Ahmad Khlefawy, Syria’s deputy minister of health, said the war cannot be an excuse for Syrians to endanger their lives by consuming tobacco. He noted that Syria was one of the first countries to sign WHO’s global framework on tobacco control and to prohibit public smoking.

隨著「伊斯蘭國」崛起，據估計，敘國的戰爭已造成數十萬人喪生。但敘國衛生部副部長克里法維博士表示，敘利亞人不能用戰爭作為消費香菸而危害自己生命的託辭。克里法維注意到，敘國係率先簽署WHO的全球菸品控管架構，以及禁止在公共場所吸菸的國家之一。

Smoking is also banned by Islamic State, which considers the habit to be against the tenets of Islam.

「伊斯蘭國」同樣禁止吸菸，該集團視吸菸這個習慣違反伊斯蘭教教義。

新聞辭典

glamour：名詞，誘惑力、迷人。Who can resist the glamour of Helen?（誰能抗拒海倫的魅力？）

notwithstanding：介係詞，儘管。Notwithstanding the bad weather, the game went on.（雖然天候不佳，比賽照常舉行。）

tenet：名詞，信條、教義。One tenet among clinicians is respect for the patient.（尊重病人是醫師的一項原則。）