Page 36 - PowerE-L05-A

Lesson 9

Smoking

I love my girlfriend, but I’m sick

and tired of her having to hide her
smoking habit from me. Hundreds of

times, I pleaded with her to quit
smoking, and she begged me for

tolerance hundreds of times. She says
that since she had been smoking long

before she met me, it’s not a piece of

cake to just kick the habit. She said
she would cut down, and would not smoke in my presence.

Most of the time, she keeps her word, but sometimes she would smoke
secretly, on the pretext that she was going to powder her face in the bathroom.

Not wanting to upset her, I pretend not to notice but it’s getting under my nerves
how she could be so sneaky when she needs a puff. I brought the issue up

one time and it blew up into a big argument. She said that I’m picking on her

because I couldn’t stand women smoking. I don’t know what to say now. I do
smoke myself, so now I’m confused whether I have the right to bug her about

her habit. I don’t know what else to do.

Comprehension

1. What is the problem between the man and the woman?
2. Why does the woman have difficulty to quit smoking?
3. What would you do if you are the writer?

Questions

1. Do you smoke? If yes, when did you start smoking?
2. What do you think of people smoking in a public
space?
3. What is the best way to quit smoking?
4. What are the bad effects of smoking?

34