When I travel to Third World countries, I see many people like my father and daughter. There are large billboards directed at them both: the tough, "take-charge," or dapper older man, the glamorous, "worldly" young woman, both puffing away. In these poor countries, as in American ghettos and on reservations, money that should be spent for food goes instead to the tobacco companies; over time, people starve themselves of both food and air, effectively weakening and addicting their children, eventually eradicating themselves. I read in the newspaper and in my gardening magazine that cigarette butts are so toxic that if a baby swallows one, it is likely to die, and that the boiled water from a bunch of them makes an effective insecticide.
我去第三世界国家旅行时，看到了许多像我父亲和女儿那样的人。到处都有针对他们这 两类人的巨大广告牌：强壮、“有领导风范”或衣冠楚楚的成熟男人，以及迷人、“世故的年轻女人，都在吞云吐雾。就像在美国的贫民窟或者印第安人的居留地一样，在这些贫穷的国家里，那些本该花在食物上的钱却流进了烟草公司。久而久之，人们不但缺少食物，还会缺少空气，这样不仅大大损害了他们的孩子的体质，还使孩子们染上烟瘾，最终置他们于死 地。我在报纸和我的园艺杂志上看到，烟蒂的毒性很强，如果一个婴儿吞下一个烟蒂，很可 能会死亡，而用一把烟蒂煮沸的水是很有效的杀虫剂。