爱尔兰：酒鬼要当心

爱尔兰：酒鬼要当心

因为过度饮酒的危害，爱尔兰的政客提议限制饮酒，希望能将爱尔兰的人均酒精摄入量降低。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

tippler 酒鬼['tɪplə(r)]

binge 狂欢[bɪndʒ]

entertainer 表演者[entə'teɪnə(r)]

bizarre 离奇的[bɪ'zɑ:(r)]

quirk 怪癖[kwɜ:k]

inequitable 不公正的[ɪn'ekwɪtəbl]

阅读即将开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用时间，并对照我们在文章最后给出的参考值来估算您的阅读速度。

Irish tipplers face clampdown on binge drinking（657words）

By Vincent Boland in Dublin

* * *

Paddy Cullivan would like everyone in Ireland to stop drinking alcohol. For the past few weeks, the entertainer has been performing his one-man show to sellout crowds, “picking through the bizarre quirks of the inequitable mire Ireland has become”, and blaming this unhappy state of affairs on Irish people’s troubled relationship with drink.

“Ireland needs to take a year off alcohol,” says the comedian, who quit drinking 18 months ago. Since “every occasion in Ireland occasions drink”, Mr Cullivan argues, the consequence is often poor decision-making and leadership, and what he describes as “our ah-sure-it’ll-be-grand” approach to impending calamity, such as the recent Irish financial crisis.

His suggestion, he says, makes his audience laugh. “But it also makes them uncomfortable.”

Unlike Mr Cullivan, Leo Varadkar does not want Irish people to stop drinking. But the country’s health minister would like everybody to drink a bit less. This week, Mr Varadkar announced proposals to tighten the law surrounding the advertising, display and sale of alcohol, in the most determined effort yet by an Irish government to reduce the social and health costs of consuming too much alcohol.

“The evidence about Ireland’s drinking habits is shocking,” says Mr Varadkar, an ambitious young politician tipped as a future taoiseach (prime minister). If the proposals become law next year, they will introduce minimum-unit pricing for alcohol, health warnings on labels, a ban on drink advertising near schools and playgrounds or on public transport, and a ban on below-cost selling.

The aim is to reduce the average annual alcohol consumption of each person in Ireland from around 11 litres to 9.1 litres by 2020. The target of the clampdown is the habit of binge drinking — excessive consumption at weekends or on a night out. This often results in antisocial behaviour, and huge additional costs for the health services and police.

According to the Irish Times newspaper, three Irish people die from excessive drinking every day and patients with alcohol-related illnesses occupy 2,000 hospital beds.

Mr Varadkar says four out of 10 Irish drinkers engage in binge drinking. “We have talked about these measures for long enough. Now is the time to make it happen,” he says.

The government’s proposals have generated fierce opposition from the Irish drinks industry. Its main objection is to minimum-unit pricing: Mr Varadkar is proposing a minimum price of €0.10 per gram of alcohol.

The industry also claims that restrictions on advertising and sponsorship would damage sports, especially rugby and horseracing, both of which rely heavily on drink sponsorship.

Ross MacMathúna, director of the Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland, says minimum-unit pricing does not curb excessive drinking among those who will do it in any case, and penalises those who do not binge drink. The result will be even higher prices in a country where, he says, alcohol is already the most expensive in the EU.

He also makes the libertarian argument that the government should not be setting a price for a commercial product. “This is the thin end of the wedge,” says Mr MacMathúna. “I don’t want some faceless bureaucrat setting the price of what I drink.”

Even before Mr Varadkar’s campaign, Irish drinking habits were changing rapidly. Per capita consumption has fallen from more than 14 litres of alcohol a year 15 years ago to 11.5 litres today, according to Alcohol Action Ireland, a lobby group. Irish craft beer production has been on the rise, meanwhile, as drinkers shift away from the traditional pint in a pub. The two developments reflect a more discerning consumer market.

Mr Cullivan, who is Irish-American, agrees that other countries have a drink problem, too, and insists he is neither lecturing the Irish nor stereotyping them.

“I know the Brits drink as much as us, but they’re not as much fun,” he says. “But drinking too much kind of closes your world down. A year without it would allow us to lift our eyes beyond the horizon.”

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. Why Paddy Cullivan would like everyone in Ireland to stop drinking alcohol？

a. It leads to poor decision-making and leadership

b. It cost too much

c. It is not healthy

d. Alcohol in Ireland is in shortage

2. Which one is not included in Leo Varadkar’ proposal？

a. introduce minimum-unit pricing for alcohol

b. the increase of tax

c. health warnings on labels

d. a ban on drink advertising near schools

3. Which one is not the factor according to article？

a. People are permitted drinking before 18

b. Three Irish people die from excessive drinking every day

c. Patients with alcohol-related illnesses occupy 2,000 hospital beds

d. Four out of 10 Irish drinkers engage in binge drinking

4. Which one is the influence of the restriction on advertising according to drink industry？

a. lead to health problems

b. slow down the economy

c. damage sports

d. improve social pressure

[1] 答案a. It leads to poor decision-making and leadership

解释：第二段Paddy Cullivan认为过度饮酒导致了低效的决策与领导力。

[2] 答案b. the increase of tax

解释：Leo Varadkar提议的内容并不包括提高税收

[3] 答案a. People are permitted drinking before 18

解释：文章第七段讲了饮酒所导致的健康问题。

[4] 答案c. damage sports

解释：造酒工业认为减少广告的投放与赞助会影响一些依靠赞助的体育项目。