The Smoking Ban

The smoking ban

1. Give an outline of the different positions on the smoking ban which are presented in the texts.

The first text, Benefits of smoke ban will be felt at once by a science editor called Robin McKie is based on facts and statistics. He uses scientific documentation when he writes examples and facts. "And in a study of a sixmonth temporary smoking ban imposed in 2002 in Helena, Montana, the number of heart attacks fell by 40 per cent compared with other years." This kind of sentence makes the text more reliable and solid. This means that people finds it hard to discuss, the fact that there is almost no way to refuse this statement, unless if people find out that this theory is wrong. He also says that the people who actually do not is smoke but breathe in second-hand smoke are decreased the chance of getting lung cancer and heart disease by 25 per cent if they will ban smoking.

The second text, "Is this the end of English literature?", is written by the British novelist and biographer. A. N. Wilson, who has a bit different point of view from the first one. He documents his claims by compering smoking with writing and creativeness. He says that the best writers were smoking, and he supports this claim by summing up successfully writers that smokes and is worried about this could be the end of literature.

The third text, Another victory for Britain's insufferable paternalists is by a British journalist called Simon Jenkins. This journalist takes the smoking ban very seriously. He himself is not a smoker, he actually hates smoking. Somehow he still thinks that smoking should be legal and that this ban will offend freedom. He puts stuff like drunkenness as a bigger problem in the society.

2. Comment on the use exaggeration and irony in text 3. Illustrate your answer with quotations in the text.

Exaggeration and irony is shown many places in the text. "The noise last night was dreadful, a sort of whirring, clanking, gurgling sound. It emerged from the drains and echoed from the ceilings and had not often been heard in Westminster. It was the sound of MPs thinking for themselves." This is a very good strategy to get the reader's attention. This sentence is at the beginning of the text, and Jenkins is surly exaggerating and using irony. He is trying to get the smoking ban appear bigger than it really is by getting the last night sound like as if it was something terrible.

3. Discuss whether society has a responsibility to prevent people from smoking or whether it is up to the individual to decide.

I am a non-smoker and I am glad that my father stopped smoking about two years ago. I cannot get on with people smoking because of the

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