Lesson 78 The last one?

Text:

After reading an article entitled 'Cigarette Smoking and Your Health' I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. I smoked with concentration and pleasure as I was sure that this would be my last cigarette. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temper and an enormous appetite. My friends kept on offering me cigarettes and cigars. They made no effort to hide their amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweets from my pocket. After seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody around me was smoking and I felt extremely uncomfortable. When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. I took one guiltily, lit it and smoked with satisfaction. My wife was delighted that things had returned to normal once more. Anyway, as Brian pointed out, it is the easiest thing in the world to give up smoking. He himself has done it lots of times!

Words & Expressions:

Old habits die hard积习难改

eg. Scott points out that old habits die hard among traditional marketers and PR professionals.

invertebrate [ɪn'vɝtɪbret]

- lacking a spinal column; relating to, or concerned with invertebrate animals

- lacking in strength or vitality

inveterate [ɪn'vɛtərət] 成瘾的，根深蒂固的

inveterate disease/habit/drinking/liar/love

appetizing 开胃的/促进食欲的

appetizing dish/ flavor

appetizer/starters 开胃菜

一般西餐的顺序是:

appetizer-soup-main course-dessert-drinks

palatable ['pælətəbl]美味的/可接受的

--palatable food

--a palatable solution to the problem

scrumptious['skrʌmpʃəs] 美味可口的

a scrumptious apple pie

to go/quit cold turkey 断然戒掉

Some smokers quit cold turkey.

break/kick/give up a habit 改掉习惯

According to the news report, Harris finds that older drug users are motivated to break their habit and have a good success rate with treatment.

withdrawal symptom断瘾症状

any physical or psychological disturbance (as sweating or depression) experienced by a drug addict when deprived of the drug

follow one's example效仿

eg. Chile's example is a good one to follow.

by osmosis 潜移默化，耳濡目染

She allowed her life to be absorbed by his, taking on as if by osmosis his likes and dislikes.

Pronunciation

cigarette [ˌsɪɡəˈrɛt, ˈsɪɡəˌrɛt] 两种发音均可

nerve  [nɝv]

world [wɝld] or的发音拖长些

week [wiːk] 长音

done/won/one/fun/run/sun  [ʌn]

delighted  [dɪ'laɪtɪd] 短音