TOEFL-Smoking should not be promitted in restaurants or other public places

Hi everyone, I'm sorry for posting my toefl essays here again and again, but I will take the exam next week and I really need some feedbacks on my practice or some prediction on my performence, so please take a look at it. Thanks a lot !!

Prompt:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
Smoking should not be promitted in restaurants and state laws that prohibit it should be upheld.
Use examples and specific reasons to support your position.

My response:
Smoking brings a person great enjoyment and relief; however, one should not be encouraged to smoke as the cost of other people's health. In this case, I advocate the idea that smoking should be prohibited in restaurants as well as other public places, and that we should support states laws to ban it; because smoking not only damages the restaurant's environment, but also imposes a potential threat on others' health.

First of all, although it is too strong to assert that smoking should be prohibited everywhere in the society, one smoking in a restaurant is considered to enjoy his time with the ignorance of others' health. It is generally believed that, the second-hand smoke, which comes from the smoker's mouth, puts an even greater threat on surrounding people's health than the smoker himself. For example, if there is only one person smoking in a restaurant, all others will smoke unconsciously and their health is under attacked. This is because some burned substance in a cigarette can easily deteriorate a person's respiratory system after he/she inhales it. Therefore, smoking in restaurants should be strictly banned because it makes the restaurant a polluted place which threatens every customer's health.

Furthermore, even though some customers do not worry about the threat that second-hand smoke imposes on them, the disgusting smoke will severely affect their appetite, or, in other words, spoil their meals and make them an unpleasant experience. The smoke exhaled from the smoker often makes other people feel uncomfortable or disgusted, thus affecting their mood in having their meals. This, on the other hand, can indirectly decrease the restaurants' popularity because fewer people are willing to consume there due to their unpleasant experiences.

Lastly, smoking does no good to the smoker himself. Not only does it aggravate his health, making him more subject to respiratory diseases, but also it damages his public image and reputation. This is especially true when the smoker is a popular political figure or an entertainmening celebrity, because most people see smoking in restaurants as an impolite human behavior. At this point, the public are likely to believe that the smoker lacks basic civility and should not be encouraged to be a public leader.

To conclude, smoking in a restaurant is a harmful and disrespectable behavior. It spoils the smoker's reputation and threats other people's health. Therefore, it is unwise to smoke in a restaurant as well as other public places, and relevant state laws should be codified to strictly prohibit it.

I know this topic is quite easy but I just wanted to use it as a confidence-builder.
Thanks in advance for your comments!!

Hi Mingwei, your essay is very good!! I'm not very good at English so I cannot help you with grammar and vocabulary. However, I have some ideas about this topic, and I hope it will help you:

-(For the 4th paragraph in your writing) You can mention the negative effect of smoking in front of children
-(For the second paragraph) Smoke causes lung cancer, ...(you can add more statistics to make your idea more effective)

Cool... this is tough! Yes, fine, it is a matter of freedom, but on the other hand... I am someone who quit smoking successfully after several years, and I am so weak-minded that if I am around cigarettes I will probably smoke again. "So don't go to restaurants where smoking is allowed!" Right? But I will, anyway, and the result will be that I smoke again.

So... I agree, it should not be banned. But also, if it is banned, I think many more people will successfully quit. This is a situation where you have to decide whether to use consequentialist ethics or absolute ethics. I tend toward consequentialism... but it is not perfect!

Calvin, I'm not going to help with the essay because you already write as well as anyone!! Great job... you can pass the toefl. Move on to bigger challenges. ;-)

Yeah, it's a tricky situation ...


You're an occasion smoker now? That means you haven't actually quitted smoking :P

However, I heard they will put disgusting pictures on cigarette packages in America too, so maybe that will gross people out and make them stop smoking. Or make them duck-tape the pictures like some do it out here.

• 
  The back of a cig pack looks like this out here.
  

Wow, awesome! That really is what cigarette packs look like there? I don't think that could be done in America. The people with the money are too powerful; it won't happen.

Thanks for sharing that! And yes.. being around cigarettes might make me smoke. And also, I recently quit eating meat, but I relapsed a few times when I was around really good food that I love... I am a product of my environment. Maybe I'll toughen up and become all-powerful.

Hahaa Kevin r u feeling gross looking at such a pic?? It happens in India too- the indian govt also passed a law to post a warninng on a major area of a cig pack...i dnt smoke so i m in favour of such gross pics to b pasted on packs..lol... . n i dont think its bad to eat meat... v r up in the food chain n v r infact helping to maintain the natural balance... but yeah if u dont like it-then thats diff... or if u r a memeber of PETA- then forget i my above lines instantly---lol ... :D

I don't think you should quit eating meat entirely. It's a great source of protein and despite others saying: "You can get the B-vitamin-complex from other foods." you get the best quality B-vitamins from there. I don't know why you decided to quit eating meat, but I suggest you only cut back on your meat portions. Never forget: a piece of meat shouldn't be bigger and thicker than your hand. :D And you cannot quit meat entirely! Just think about curry chicken!!!

[About them implementing the disgusting pictures in America: I watched this video, that's where I got this from. Of course, I don't know if this is true: youtube.com/watch?v=CjExhI5_vVQ


Well, if you think back to the Stone and Bronze Ages, yes. But today we don't do that anymore. The fact that we have become the top of the food chain itself shows that we are not maintaining the natural balance. If you quit eating meat with the hope of saving animals, the saving part ain't gonna happen.

Most countries heavily rely on meat as a food source or it is part of their traditions. A clear example would be my country. We eat pork all year round and we have it in everything: pork fat fried in pork fat as entree, pork belly soup with cream and hot pepper -first course, minced pork meat with rice and onion wrapped in sour cabbage with fried pork skin and sausages on the side -main course, and even dessert sometimes requires pork fat.

I hate pork. It's fatty and disgusting. The smell is awful -smells like burnt hair. Why would I still kill pigs? They make excellent watercolour painting brushes :D

So here you go! Whatever side you're on you still kill animals. If you're a vegetarian and wear leather shoes or have a nice leather handbag, you still kill animals. What's the point then?!

if there is only one person smoking in a restaurant, all others will smoke unconsciously and their health is under attacked.---------that's quite strange.

everyone's happy---informal

Ha ha, yeah... it's tough. We want to allow each other freedom..so we want to allow people to buy and sell products without obstacle... but we also want people to be safe and informed. I really enjoy the fact that pics like this go on cigarette packs... Even when I was a smoker I would have favored that sort of thing.


Good, because I just relapsed again!


I didn't know that rule, thanks! I assume that is to make it easier to chew... ;-)


haha, yeah, good point.

Reason for not eating meat: It makes me feel like a monster in a Tim Burton film!! Too weird... eating the animals. I recently discovered Morning Star Farms products... don't know if they are available where you all live, but.. they are so great!!


Ha ha... spoken like someone who has accidentally burnt her hair.


wow... LOL, as it were.


Thanks, Winnie!!
For example, if there is only one person smoking in a restaurant, all others will smoke unconsciously, and their health will be under attack.