If you smoke and you still don’t believe that there’s a definite link
between smoke and troubles, heart disease and lung cancer, 1. _____
and you are certainly deceiving yourself. No one will accuse you 2.___
with hypocrisy. Let us just say that you are suffering from a bad case of 3.______
wishful thinking. This needn’t make you too uncomfortable because you are
in a good company. Whenever the subject of smoking and health is 4.___
raised, the governments of most countries hear no evil, see no evil and
smell no evil. Admittedly, a few governments have not taken timid 5.______
measures. In Britain for instance, cigarette advertising has been banned on
television. The conscience of the nation is appeased, while the population
continues to puff its way to smoky, cancerous death.
You don’t have to look very far to find out that the official reactions 6._____
to medical findings have been so lukewarm. The answer is simple money. 7._______
Tobacco is a wonderful commodity to tax. It’s almost like a tax on
our daily bread. In tax revenue lonely, the government of Britain 8.______
collect enough from smokers to pay for its entirely educational facilities. 9._____
So while the authorities point out ever so discreetly that smoking may,
conceivably, harmful, it doesn’t do to shout too loudly about it. 10.______