Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action. It wa

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问题     Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action. It was 50 years ago this month that America’s surgeon-general sounded that warning, marking the beginning of the end of cigarette manufacturing—and of smoking itself—as a respectable activity. Some 20m Americans have died from the habit since then. But advertising restrictions, smoking bans and stigma have had their effect: the proportion of American adults who smoke has dropped from 43% to 18%; smoking rates among teenagers are at a record low. In many other countries the trends are similar.
    The current surgeon-general, Boris Lushniak, marked the half-century with a report on January 17th, declaring smoking even deadlier than previously thought. He added diabetes, colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes, and promised "end-game strategies" to stamp out cigarettes altogether.
    Were that to happen America’s three big tobacco firms, Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard, could be snuffed out, too. Public health officials plot the same fate for multinationals that supply other markets. The hit list includes Philip Morris International (PMI), which along with Altria makes Marlboro, the top-selling global brand; Japan Tobacco; and British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco of Britain.
    They are a hardy group, unlikely to be frightened. But the methods they have used to withstand a half-century of battering by regulators may be losing power. In the rich world, where the economy is stagnant, smokers are trading down to cheaper puffs. The regulatory climate in developing countries is becoming more hostile. New technologies such as e-cigarettes promise to deliver nicotine less riskily. Big tobacco firms may master them, but it would be a radical shift, similar to converting the car industry from internal-combustion engines to battery power. David Adelman of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, does not "see anything that’s reversing the conventional tobacco business model." But the model needs adjustment.
    Some reasons for Mr. Adelman’s confidence are sound. Advertising bans and the industry’s status prevent would-be competitors. When cigarette-makers raise prices, smokers cough up. Global consumption keeps rising, thanks largely to population growth in poorer countries. The cigarette giants indulge investors with big dividends and share buy-backs; they have flocked to tobacco share.
Boris claimed that smoking ______.

选项 A、has led to many fatal diseases
B、will be completely prohibited soon
C、usually results in diabetes and other ills
D、may be ended in the following half-century

答案A

解析 根据题干中的大写词“Boris"定位到第二段,而“claimed(宣称)”对应该段第二行的“declaring(宣称)”,故答案来自declaring后面的内容。选项B中的“prohibited(禁止)”,选项D中的“ended(结束)”与第三行的“promised ‘end-game strategies’ to stamp out cigarettes altogether”的表述是一致的,但是文章并没有提到什么时候才能实现禁烟,B项的“soon”,和D项的“in the following half-century”是错误的,故这两项是错误的。选项A和C两项表述接近,与原文也接近,原文提到:He added diabetes colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes. 大意为:吸烟导致各种疾病。与选项A的表述基本一致,C项中的“usually”一词是错误的,文章并没有讲述吸烟导致疾病的频率有多高,因此答案为A。
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