Common Problems, Common Solutions
The chances are that you made up your mind about smoking a long time ago-and decided it's not for you.
The chances are equally good that you know a lot of smokers-there are, after all about 60 millions of them, work with them, play with them, and get along with them very well.
And finally it's a pretty safe bet that you're open-minded and interested in all the various issues about smokers and nonsmokers-or you wouldn't be reading this.
And those three things make you incredibly important today.
Because they mean that yours is the voice-not the smoker's and not the anti-smoker's-that will determine how much of society's efforts should go into building walls that separate us and how much into the search for solutions that bring us together.
For one tragic result of the emphasis on building walls is the diversion of millions of dollars from scientific research on the causes and cures of diseases which, when all is said and done, still strike the nonsmoker as well as the smoker. One prominent health organization, to cite but a single instance, now speeds 28 cents of every publicly-contributed dollar on "education"(much of it in anti-smoking propaganda) and only 2 cents on research.
There will always be some who want to build walls, who want to separate people from people, and up to a point, even these may serve society. The anti-smoking wall-builders have, to give them their due, helped to make us all more keenly aware of choice.
But our guess, and certainly our hope, is that you are among the far greater number who know that walls are only temporary at best, and that over the long run, we can serve society's interests better by working together in mutual accommodation.
Whatever virtue walls may have, they can never move our society toward fundamental solutions. People who work together on common problems, common solutions, can.
1. What does the word "wall" used in the passage mean?
A) Anti-smoking propaganda.
B) Diseases striking nonsmokers as well as smokers.
C) Rules and regulations that prohibit smoking
D) Separation of smokers from nonsmokers.
2. In paragraph 4, "you" refers to
A) smokers
B) non-smokers
C) anti-smokers
D) smokers who have quitted smoking
3. It is evident that the author is not in favor of
A) building a wall between smokers and nonsmokers
B) doing scientific research at the expense of one's health
C) bringing smokers and nonsmokers together
D) providing accommodation for smokers.
4. As is suggested, the common solution to the common problem is
A) To separate people from people
B) To work together in mutual accommodation
C) To make us more keenly aware of choice
D) To serve society's interests better.
5. According to the passage, the writer looks upon the anti-smoking wall-builder's actions
A) optimistically
B) pessimistically
C) unconcernedly
D) skeptically
