VOA慢速英语2012 Technology Report - Are Smartphone Apps Encouraging Young Smokers?

Technology Report - Are Smartphone Apps Encouraging Young Smokers 1?

科技报道 - 一些智能手机应用程序鼓励年轻人吸烟

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.

这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。

Public health officials say tobacco companies are avoiding a worldwide ban on advertising 2 tobacco products to young people by using smartphone applications, or “apps.” The officials say some of the apps are designed to persuade young people to start smoking.

公共健康官员说，烟草公司通过使用智能手机应用程序，避开向年轻人宣传烟草产品的全球禁令。有关官员表示，有些应用程序设计目的是说服年轻人开始吸烟。

Armando Peruga works for the World Health Organization’s Tobacco-Free Initiative. He recently discovered one such pro-smoking app online.

阿曼多·佩鲁戛（Armando Peruga）就职于世界卫生组织下的无烟草行动项目。他最近发现了这样一个亲吸烟的应用程序在线。

“I was taken aback by a game that is called ‘Puff 3, Puff, Pass,’ which is (an) application that’s a cartoon game where the user must click on game characters to order them to smoke and pass the cigarette to the other characters. And the user collects points if he or she continues passing the cigarette in the same sequence at a fast pace. Obviously, that can only be directed at very young kids.”

“我被‘Puff, Puff, Pass'这个游戏吓了一跳。这是一个卡通游戏应用程序，用户必须点击游戏角色命令他们吸烟，并将香烟传递给其它游戏角色。如果用户以同样的顺序快速传递香烟就能获得游戏点数。显然，这是直接针对非常小的孩子们。”

Millions of people around the world now have smartphones, and many of them are children.

目前世界各地数百万人拥有智能手机，其中许多是儿童。

Researchers in Australia searched the Apple and Android app stores using words like “smoke,” “smoking,” “cigar,” “cigarette,” and “tobacco.” They found more than one hundred apps linked to those words. The apps included not only games and social utilities, but advertisements for tobacco products, and information about where the products could be purchased.

澳大利亚的研究人员在苹果和安卓应用商店中搜索“烟”、“吸烟”、“雪茄”、“香烟”和“烟草”一类的字眼，发现了一百多个与此相关的应用程序。这些应用程序不仅包含游戏和社会设施，还包括香烟产品广告，以及何处可以买到这些产品的信息。

Forty-two of the apps were from the Android store. Together, they had been downloaded six million times. 

其中42个应用程序来自安卓商店，它们一共被下载了600万次。

The most popular Android apps were those that simulate smoking. The apps let users smoke a virtual cigarette and produce visual effects of the cigarette being burned and smoked. Some of the simulation apps claim to aid in quiting smoking. 

最流行的是那些模拟吸烟的安卓应用程序。这些应用程序让用户吸食虚拟香烟，并产生香烟燃烧和被吸食的视觉效果。其中一些模拟应用程序宣称是帮助戒烟。

Armando Peruga said the names of some of the apps are very misleading.

佩鲁戛表示，一些应用程序的分类目录存在很大的误导。

“These apps -- which are, the study identified about a hundred seven of these pro-smoking apps -- are classified under names such as health and fitness and just…games which are very misleading, and anyone can access, especially young kids.”

“研究发现的这107个亲吸烟的应用程序被分类在健康、健身和游戏等目录下，这些目录存在极大的误导性，同时任何人都可以进入这些目录，特别是年幼的孩子。”

The Australian researchers believe these pro-smoking smartphone applications violate the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. The convention bans all advertising and promotion 4 of tobacco products in the media, in countries that have signed the treaty. The researchers say the app stores have a moral -- and possibly legal -- responsibility to honor the convention and other laws that ban the advertising of tobacco products to young people.

澳大利亚研究人员认为这些亲吸烟的智能手机应用程序违反了世界卫生组织烟草控制框架公约。该公约禁止在已经签署该条约的国家的媒体上做任何烟草产品的广告或推广。研究人员表示，应用程序商店有道义和潜在法律责任履行公约及其它禁止向青年人宣传烟草产品的法律。

The report on pro-tobacco smartphone applications was published in the journal Tobacco Control.

关于亲吸烟智能手机应用程序的报告发表在《烟草控制》杂志上。