SMOKING

Smoking is very dangerous. Most young people smoke because their friends pressure them to do so. They may be copying their parents who smoke, or other adults they respect. At one time this would have been accepted as normal. But in the past 30 years attitudes about smoking have changed. Smoking is now banned in many places so that other people don’t have to breathe in smokers’ shocking tobacco smoke.

Passive smoking, when you are breathing someone else’s smoke, can damage your health just like smoking can. Smoking becomes addictive very quickly, and it’s one of the hardest habits to break.

What is it in cigarette smoke that is harmful? A chemical called nicotine is a substance that causes addiction. It is a stimulant that increases the pulse rate and a rise in the blood pressure. Cigarette smoke also contains tar – a major factor for causing cancer.

Gases in cigarette smoke increase your blood pressure and pulse rate. This can contribute to heart disease. Smokers as twice as non-smokers are likely to have heart trouble.

If you’ve ever watched an adult try to give up smoking, you know how hard it can be. It’s easier, healthier and cheaper never to start.

3. Read the text and note down the facts about the danger caused by alcohol. Find some sentences proving it.