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《The Thinking Mans Choice》英語演講稿
Contact is made. Nerves order the heart to pump faster. Adrenalin surges to action. Nerves constrict the blood vessels in the extremities of the body. Skin temperature drops. Fingers and toes grow colder. Blood pressure jump. An alcoholic or a dope addict in the first stages of a "cure"? A man being catapulted into outer space? No! These effects stem from smoking just one cigarette.
The United States Public Health Service is issuing continual warnings to smokers. If they abstain completely from smoking, their chances of acquiring lung cancer will be one in 275. Their chances of dying of lung cancer will be one in 10 if they become heavy smokers─two or more packs a day. Lung cancer is fatal in 95 per cent of all cases.
But in spite of glaring evidence and frequent warnings, the public is smoking more and more. The Department of Agriculture estimates that this years consumption of cigarettes will reach 180 packs per person fifteen years of age and over. How many cigarettes does this mean per person?─3600.
Why is smoking such an important problem? Because smoking is not a mere habit, as so many think it is. No, it is more serious than that. A habit can be broken easily enough, but an addiction cannot. Smokers lapse into helplessness! Daniel Schubert, of the University of Chicago, quizzed 226 students at a large Northwestern college about their smoking habits─why they started, what satisfaction they got, and if they wanted to stop. According to Schubert, they wanted to quit smoking; but they couldnt.
If one is addicted to cigarettes, he is dependent upon them physically, as well as psychologically. What is it, if it is not addiction, that motivates a man to go out in sub-zero weather to buy a pack of cigarettes? If necessary, he will drive ten miles late at night to find an open drugstore. What is it, if it is not addiction, that makes a moocher of an otherwise charming young girl?
I was talking to a professor not long ago who had just quit smoking. He told me what most of you already know─that once the habit is started, watch out! It is next to impossible to stop smoking. I asked him how he ever managed to quit when he had been smoking over a pack a day for ten years. Listen to his story.
"Well, I cut down to one-half pack a day for the first week.
I was touchy most of the time. The slightest irritation made my nerves jangle and my head want to explode. The next week I smoked five cigarettes a day and had an even worse case of nerves. Then the following week I chewed gum and sucked on mints, candy, and pipe stems. Frankly, I wasnt sure from one moment to the next if I could keep going. Somehow I made it."
Many of you know what this professor is talking about; you, too, have tried to break the addiction, but have failed. In the few minutes we have here today we can analyze the motives at the root of our smoking problem.
Perhaps we can assure those who do not smoke, (and I am happy I can still include myself in this group), to nip in the bud the urges of those who are about to begin smoking, and to encourage to cut-down those who are already confirmed smokers.
Lets begin with group pressures. We race to maturity, to grow up all at once. We want poise, selfconfidence, and lots of friends; we want to be accepted.
This need for acceptance reminds me of an incident that occurred in a campus sorority house during the "rushing period" last fall. A sorority member offered a rushee a cigarette. Eager to please and not to seem different, the girl blurted out a confident, "Oh, yes, Id love one!" The active struck a match, was calmly extending it toward the rushee when the flustered freshman met the active half-way with cigarette in hand. The active was thunderstruck. You can imagine her mixed emotions while striving to stifle her amusement and at the same time to understand that the poor rushee had never smoked before. In the excitement of the moment she was only concerned with being accepted.
Then there is the girl who is seated in a group, not knowing what to do with her hands. First, she rolls and unrolls the curl behind her left ear; then she rummages in her purse for some article to wave as a prop. An inspiration flashes, and she remembers the package of Kents in her coat pocket. Why didnt she think of them before? She always did think women who smoked looked mature. What a convenient prop to have brought along. Convenient? Yes, sophisticated? No. Years ago, a woman was thought sophisticated if she knew how to smoke. Men were impressed. But today the picture is changing, as everyone knows how to smoke─age eleven or up. Perhaps now the novelty should be the nonsmoker?
Now I ask you. Is a woman charming if she can sit with her hands folded gracefully in her lap, or is she more charming while fidgeting with one cigarette after another? And you men specifically─which do you prefer─the lady who needs no props to have poise, or the lady who thinks a cigarette makes her more alluring to you? Take a good look at a woman sometime when she is inhaling. She drags hard, makes a puckering noise with her lips, tosses her head back drawing a deep breath─then bellows the smoke out like the gust from a rocket launching. She may even go so far as to blow smoke rings for you. Is she dainty? Is she feminine?
The power of suggestion is another strong motivating factor in our lives. Havent you watched someone yawn and suddenly felt your own mouth gape open. You let the power of suggestion get the best of you; and before you realized it, you, too, were yawning. Now, couldnt this same power induce you to smoke? Why not, especially through the medium of advertising.
I am reminded of a "Mostly Malarky" cartoon that I recently clipped out of the Chicago Tribune. Malarky strolled into a drugstore. Standing before the counter, he scratched his head in silence. Finally, he muttered to the clerk, "I want the thinking mans cigarette, but I cant seem to think of the name." Poor Malarky. He only wanted a package of Viceroy as the "thinking mans cigarette." After all, if he is a thinking man, as he thinks he is, he should, by all means, smoke his own brand.
Advertisers are further toying with mens egos by appealing to their hidden desires to be energetic, vigorous, and potent. Marlboro, with its hairy-chested male smoker, has set the pace. The cigarette is made to project the image of a rugged, rough-and-ready guy. Doesnt this explain why many cigarette ads display great flexing of masculine muscles?
The woman, too, is a victim of advertising. Vogue cigarettes catch her eye. Why? Because they come in pastels. How perfectly exciting for the female world! Just think! She can now buy cigarettes to match her wardrobe; and whats more, she can purchase matching cigarette cases and lighters in any color of the rainbow, with jewels or without.
Yes, we are frequently victims of suggestive devices. Dr. Ernest Dichtter, head of the Institute for Motivational Research, has conducted a series of studies for ad agencies on the subject of smoking. He states, "People smoke, not because of the taste of cigarettes, but because smoking provides them with certain psychological satisfactions they can get in no other way." He adds that cigarettes are involved in a mans struggle for survival, stability, and security. I am afraid I cannot agree with Dr. Dichter, for I believe that a man can survive and can find security without cigarettes. He needs food, he needs shelter, he needs love and companionship; but cant he satisfy these needs in ways other than smoking?
Rationalization makes a strong impact on our lives. Are we cultivating rationalizations as an excuse to smoke? I am afraid we are. No doubt 50 per cent of us here have used as an excuse to continue smoking, this very common remark, "If I ever stopped smoking, I would gain ten pounds." Perhaps! A cigarette at 4p.m. does not contain the calories that a milkshake does. But the healthy way to lose excess pounds is to eat the right kind and the right amount of food.
We again rationalize when we buy filter tip cigarettes. We assure ourselves that the filter reduces any danger, but according to the July, 1957 edition of Readers Digest, "The tar and nicotine reduction possible through a filter ranges from 7 to 17 per cent. These percentages are too small to be really protective." With a perfect filter no smoke could seep through─just hot air. So many people believe that filters are the solution that filter tips will account for about half of this years output. Cant we admit that we are being duped to form. a habit that is detrimental to mankind─a habit that leads to addiction?
So you begin to wonder if maybe you should quit smoking─that, after all, you are an individual. What would happen to you tomorrow if some conclusive proof should suddenly come forth─proof that cigarettes are a one-way ticket to death? What would you do? Who do not smoke, youve seen why others start the habit and the risks they are taking. Be on your guard. You, who have the urge to start smoking─you are perched on a fence and can jump to either side. Which will you choose? And you, who are already confirmed smokers, are now confronted with the hardest question of all. If you wanted to stop smoking, "Could you? Could you break the addiction?"
Jean Nicot, the Frenchman who gave his name to nicotine, believed that he had discovered a miracle drug. Today we try to filter out nicotine because of its harmful nature. The modern Jean Nicots believe that smoking makes the woman more attractive, more desirable─the man more masculine, more independent.
We say we are thinking men! Well, are we thinking? Cigarette, anyone?
到位了。神經命令心臟跳動加快。腎上腺激素開始涌動。神經促使人手腳處的血管開始收縮。皮膚的溫度下降了，手指、腳趾漸漸變涼，血壓升高了。這些癥狀是不是發生在一個酒鬼或一個吸毒成癮者接受"治療"的第一階段?抑或是一個人正被彈射到外層太空?不!它們僅來自于吸了一支煙。
美國公共健康服務中心正不斷地給煙民們發出警告。他們被告知：如果他們徹底戒煙的話，他們得肺癌的可能將是1/275。如果他們成了一天吸兩包煙以上的癮君子的話，那他們死于肺癌的比例將是1/10。同時必須指出，100個肺癌患者中有95人將最終死亡。
然而，盡管這些吸煙有害健康的證據毋容置疑，并不斷向人們發出警告，但吸煙人數還在不斷增多。農業部估計，今年的香煙消費量將達到人均180包(15歲以上者)。這將意味著每人吸多少支?3600支。
為什么吸煙是一個如此嚴峻的問題?因為它不是許多人所認為的只是一個習慣問題。不，它遠比習慣來得厲害。一個習慣能輕易地改變，而吸煙一旦上了癮，就難以自拔了。芝加哥大學的丹尼爾·舒爾伯格曾經對西北一所較大的大學的226名學生就吸煙習慣問題做過一次調查──是什么原因使他們開始吸煙的?他們從吸煙中獲得了什么快感?他們是否有戒煙的打算?從舒爾伯格的調查結果來看，那些學生想戒煙，但是辦不到。
如果一個人吸煙上了癮，他即在生理上對香煙產生了依賴感。如果這不是一種癮的話，那它是什么?是什么力量能促使一個人在零度以下的惡劣天氣里出門去買煙?如果必要的話，他甚至會在深夜開十英里車去尋找一個仍在營業的雜貨店。如果那不是一種癮的話，它又會是什么?它怎么會使原先一個迷人的女孩變成一個無所事事、游手好閑的人?
不久前，我和一個剛剛戒煙的教授進行了一次談話。他告訴我你們大多數人已知道的：一旦抽上香煙，當心!因為要戒煙幾乎不大可能。于是，我問他，他是如何養成了一天吸一包煙以上的習慣并持續了十年之后，能成功地戒掉了煙癮。讓我們來聽聽他的故事吧!
"唔，我在一開始的第一個星期里減少了吸煙的數量，每天只抽半包。在那段時間里，我很容易發脾氣。稍有點不如意，就會使我極度煩躁，腦袋也像要裂開似的。第二個星期開始，我每天抽五支煙，那時，我的精神狀態更糟了。在接著的第三個星期里，我試著嚼口香糖和薄荷糖，當然還有煙斗桿。坦白地說，能不能堅持下去，我也不能肯定。可不知怎么的，我還是做到了。"
聽了他的故事，你們中的許多人知道他在說什么了。因為你們也曾經嘗試過戒煙，只是你失敗了。現在，讓我們花幾分鐘來分析一下吸煙的根本動機。
這樣說，也許我們能夠讓那些不吸煙的人(我很高興我自己屬于這一類)，在要吸煙時就打消這個念頭，并鼓勵那些已經上癮的煙民減少吸煙數量。
讓我們從外界壓力影響這個角度開始分析。我們希望成熟，希望一下子能長大。我們需要平衡、自信和朋友，我們更期盼被人接受。
這種希望接受的愿望使我想到了一件事。那是去年秋天，在一所大學的女生聯誼晚會里發生的事。那時，正在舉行一個爭取新會員的活動。一個聯誼會成員給一位新生一支煙。這個新進大學的女孩急切地想取悅他人，不愿做得與眾不同，于是，她自信地脫口而出："噢，好的，我很想來一支!"于是，那個遞煙的人劃了根火柴，平靜地伸出手去給她點煙。與此同時，這個新生慌慌張張地拿著煙迎了上去�？粗臉幼�，遞煙的人震驚了。你可想像那復雜的表情。一方面，她努力抑制著自己，不讓自己笑出聲來;另一方面，她又深深地理解這個可憐的新生──她以前從未吸過煙。而這個新來的女孩在這個激動的時刻，什么也不顧，只在意她是否被接受了。
讓我們再來看一個例子。在一堆人中，坐著一個女孩，她不知道自己的手該怎么放。一開始，她用手反復地撥弄著左耳后的卷發，接著翻弄著錢袋，想找東西握在手里，這樣可顯得自然些。突然一個念頭從她腦子里冒出來，她記起在外衣口袋里還有一包健牌煙。為什么她不早些想到它們呢?她一直認為吸煙的女人看上去更成熟一些。拿著香煙打發雙手該有多方便啊!方便?是的。老練?不!在許多年前，一個女人要是知道如何吸煙，人們會認為她很老練，男人們也會被她吸引住的。但是現在，這種觀念早就不存在了，因為，現在每個人都知道如何吸煙，甚至八歲的孩子也不例外�，F在，不吸煙可能反而是件新鮮事了。
現在讓我來問你，如果一個女人坐著，雙手交叉著優雅地放在膝上，而另一個女人，雙手一支接著一支地抽著煙，哪一個更有魅力?有一個女人不需要任何物體來平衡她的手腳，另一個女人卻認為煙能使她對男人更具誘惑力。作為一個男人，具體地說──你喜歡哪一個?好好看看一個女人吸煙的樣子，你會看到，她狠命地吸煙，撅起雙唇發出一陣"嘶嘶"聲，接著往后一仰，把煙深深地吸了進去然后就像火箭發射時噴出的尾氣一樣，大口地噴出煙霧。她甚至還會向你吐煙圈。這么一個女人，你能說她俊俏，你能說她有女人味?
在我們的生活中，暗示的力量是促使我們行動的另一個關鍵因素。你有沒有這樣的經歷，當你看到別人打呵欠時，你也會不由自主地打起呵欠來?原來，這已影響了你，在你還沒意識到你將干什么之前，你已經這么干了。那么，這種同樣的暗示力量會不會也促使你去吸煙呢?怎么不會呢?尤其是廣告媒體的影響。
我回想起最近我從《芝加哥論壇》上剪下來的一個名叫"莫斯特立·馬拉基"的卡通畫，內容講的是馬拉基逛進了一個雜貨店，他站在柜臺前一言不發，卻使勁地抓腦袋，最后，他向售貨員嘀咕道："我想買有頭腦的人吸的煙，可是我好像想不起它的名字來了。"可憐的馬拉基，他想要的僅僅是一包總督牌香煙，廣告商卻把它描繪成有頭腦的人抽的香煙。畢竟，每個人都認為自己是一個有頭腦的人，人都是這樣認為自己的，他無論如何應該吸自己牌子的煙。
廣告商們不斷地玩弄男人的自我，即激發他們那種想要精力充沛，充滿活力、健康力的內心愿望。萬寶路，起了帶頭作用。它的煙盒上是一個長滿胸毛的男子漢。于是，萬寶路就有了一個粗獷的、豪放不羈的男人形象。這難道不正解釋了為什么眾多的香煙廣告里，展示的往往都是男性肌肉的強有力的收縮嗎?
女性，同樣也是廣告的受害者。時髦的香煙往往吸引了她們。為什么呢?因為那些煙往往以彩色粉筆狀出現。女人的世界是多么令人激動啊!試想一下，她們能夠買到與衣服相配的煙了。此外，她們還能夠買到與煙匹配的五彩繽紛的或鑲嵌著奪目的珠寶的煙盒及打火機。
的確，我們常常是帶有誘導性物件的受害者。動機研究院的負責人歐內斯特·狄徹特博士，曾為廣告公司在吸煙方面進行過一系列的研究。他指出："人們吸煙并不為了煙的味道，而是因為通過吸煙，他們能夠獲得一種通過其他方式難以得到的心理上的滿足。"他補充道，香煙同一個人為了生存、穩定、安全而奮斗有很大的關系。我恐怕不能同意他的觀點。我認為，一個人沒有煙也能夠找到安全感。一個人需要的是食物、住房、愛與友情。難道他不能通過吸煙以外的方式來滿足他的這些需要嗎?
自我辯解對我們的生活有很大的影響。我們是不是在把自我辯解用作吸煙的借口?恐怕是這樣的。毫無疑問，我們中有一半的人把這類話作為一個借口來繼續吸煙，"我一旦戒煙，我體重將增加10磅。"可能會這樣!在下午4點吸的一支煙里不含有一杯牛奶所含有的熱量。但是，健康的減肥方法不是通過吸煙，而是吃合適的和適量的食物。
當我們購買帶過濾嘴的香煙時，我們又自己辯解、找理由，我們使自己相信這個過濾嘴能過濾掉任何有害物質。但根據1957年7月版的《讀者文摘》上的一篇報道："通過一個過濾嘴，焦油和尼古丁含量可能會減少7%～17%�？蛇@百分比太小，遠遠起不到真正的保護作用。"如搞出一個完美的過濾嘴，那就沒有煙而只有熱空氣能夠通過了。如此多的人相信這種過濾嘴是一個解決吸煙有害的好方法，以致于它的產量大約占今年卷煙總產量的50%。難道我們不承認我們正在受騙，慢慢養成一種對人類有害的習慣──一種會讓人沉溺于其中，難以自拔的習慣?
因此，你開始懷疑你是否有可能戒煙──畢竟，人是一個獨立的人。如果明天一些結論性的論據一下子成真，完全證明了香煙是通向死亡的單程票，那么，對你有什么影響?你會怎么做?你，不吸煙的人，親眼目睹了為什么另一些人染上了吸煙的習慣，他們正冒著怎樣巨大的風險。所以，當心!你，有想吸煙欲望的人，正坐在欄桿上，你隨時可跳向任何一邊。你會選擇哪一邊呢?嗨，你，一個已經吸煙成癮的人，現在正面臨著嚴峻的問題。如果你想戒煙的話，"你能嗎?你能克制你的煙癮嗎?"
讓·尼古丁，這個給尼古丁命名的法國人，相信他發現了一種神奇的藥物。今天，我們試圖把尼古丁過濾掉，因為它是有害的。而現代的讓·尼古丁們卻相信吸煙能使女人更有魅力，更令人向往，男人更男性化，更獨立。
我們自認為是有頭腦的人。那么，我們真的有頭腦了嗎?香煙，誰想來一支?
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