If you walk to the far end of any school courtyard in the UK during the lunch break, you will find several teenagers trying to hide their cigarette smoke from the teachers at the other end. 

午餐休息时分，走在英国任意一所中学校园里，你都能看见对面有一些学生背着老师在吸烟。

Teenage smoking is a big problem in the UK, even though it is illegal to smoke before you reach 16 years of age. Children start smoking from as young as 11, and over a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the UK.

虽然十六岁以前吸烟是违法的，但是青少年吸烟现象已成英国社会一大问题。据英国国家统计办公室统计，有些孩子早在十一岁就开始吸烟，十五岁孩子中有四分之一以上经常性地吸烟。

Jonathan Williams, a 15-year-old boy from Hastings, on the south east coast of England, started smoking four months ago. “All my friends smoke so I thought I’d try it. I only smoke at weekends when I’m out with my friends,” he said. “It’s easy to buy them because most people my age look 16 anyway. No one can tell the difference between a 15 or 16-year-old.”

乔纳森·威廉斯是英国东南海岸黑斯廷斯的一个十五岁的男孩，四个月前开始抽烟。他说：“我的朋友都抽烟，所以我想试试。但我只在周末和朋友外出时才抽。我们很容易就能买到烟，因为大多数像我这么大的孩子看起来都像十六岁。没有人能看得出十五岁和十六岁的孩子有什么不同。”

Young girls living in the UK are much more likely to smoke than boys. They also smoke more frequently. This is because girls are more likely to “follow the crowd.” They want to feel included.

生长在英国的女孩子比男孩子吸烟的可能性更大，而且吸得更频繁。因为女孩子更喜欢赶时髦，随大流。

Jonathan’s sister Paula is 17. She tried her first cigarette when she was just 12. “I didn’t start smoking regularly until a year ago, because I was afraid of my mum finding out,” she said. “But now I’m over 16, there’s nothing she can do, even though she doesn’t approve.”

乔纳森的姐姐保拉现在十七岁，十二岁时开始吸烟，她说：“直到一年以前我才开始·抽烟，因为怕母亲发现。但是现在我已过了十六岁，即使母亲不同意，她也拿我没办法。”