／spit吐痰　

   civilize使文明

Spitting is mad in a civilized society
China Daily  Updated: 2006-02-24 05:39

／expel驱逐，排除　

   nuisance讨厌的人或东西　

Spitting is an act of one's own will, the purpose of which is to expel unwanted fluid from one's mouth. It is a personal decision, but when it pollutes the environment one shares with other people, or the act itself disturbs other people, it becomes a nuisance.

　　That explains why random spitting has been targeted as a bad habit or uncivilized act for many years, and will be for many years to come.

/municipal　市政的，地方的

  launch　发起

  address　演说

  litter　乱丢垃圾

  excrement　粪便

  pavement　人行道，公路　

　　Beijing municipal government announced that it will launch a campaign from late March to address such uncivilized acts as random spitting, littering and failing to remove dog excrement from pavements.

/volume　卷，册

  notoriety　臭名昭著　　

　　The fact that a personal act has become the target of a mass campaign speaks volumes for the notoriety of such a habit.

/obstinate　倔强的，顽固的

　　The habit is so notorious that it has never been left out of any public campaign against uncivilized acts. But it is so obstinate that it has never been rooted out and does not show any sign of ever being completely stopped.

/physiological　生理学的

  instinctive　本能的　　

　　We all know spitting is a physiological and instinctive need, but to have the awareness of where to spit is a habit developed in one's daily life.

/contaminate　污染 

　　Very few people have developed the habit of spitting on the floor of their own homes, because they have been educated from their childhoods that their homes should not be contaminated by spittle.

/bring about　使发生

  reaction　反映，反作用

  stroller　散步者，流浪者 

　　Sanitation workers working in Beijing's Tian'anmen Square said that only a tiny percentage of visitors spit on the square because the environment here is too clean to bring about such physiological reaction from strollers.

/attest　证明

　　So, these two facts attest to the fact that many people have not developed the awareness that they should treat public places the way they treat their homes, and that many public places should not cause people to pour extra fluid from their mouths onto them.

　　Beijing municipal government plans to address the issue in two ways: cans with special bags to contain spittle will be placed on streets for those who cannot control their physiological need to spit, while a maximum fine of 50 yuan (US$6) will be given to those who spit randomly.

/humanistic　人文主义的 

  mete out　分给，给予

  digust　另人厌恶的　　

　　The plan sounds reasonable. On the one hand, it allows those who do have the need to spit to do so. This seems a humanistic approach. On the other hand, heavy fines will be meted out to those who contaminate the environment with disgusting spittle.

/inflict　使遭受，予以

　　But it will undoubtedly be very difficult to put the latter approach into practice. Fines can only be inflicted when the spitter is caught red-handed.

/penalty　处罚，罚款

　　In the first place, more guards will have to be employed to catch them, but who can tell how many will be enough? Then, video cameras will have to be used to provide evidence for penalties.

　　Needless to say, it will be too costly to carry out the measure to the letter.

　　It will be very costly as well to have enough spittle containers to meet the need.

　　If we do place enough such containers in public places, such a move seems to encourage the habit of spitting and therefore it is undoubtedly not a sensible way to root out the habit.

　　However, we do believe that the efforts by the Beijing municipal government will get somewhere.

　　Efforts to keep public places like streets or pavements as clean as possible may create a psychological impact on those who have the habit.

/remedy　补救，矫正，治疗　　

　　Yet, educating children not to spit randomly is the fundamental remedy to root out this uncivilized habit.