First Listening
Please listen to a short passage carefully and prepare to answer some questions.
A mother weeps. Her daughter is smoking the same kind of cigarettes that killed her grandfather. Tobacco advertising and film actors had attracted the grandfather to smoking but he never looked well like them. His health was poor when his daughter was only sixteen; his breathing was difficult; he rested often when climbing stairs; he often coughed for an hour. Now his daughter is deeply hurt; she was so careful raising her own daughter. For what purpose? To see all her care thrown away as her sixteen-year-old daughter slowly kills herself. The mother feels smoking is self-injury. It also injures others who watch a loved one die. The mother watched her father’s slow death; that one victory for the rich tobacco companies is enough. (Words: 124)
Second Listening
Listen to the tape again. Then answer the following questions with your own experiences.
1. Who are the characters in this story and what is their relationship to each other?
2. What are the effects of smoking?
3. What does “victory” mean in this story?
