报刊论文

By Amy Norton

Jun 16, 10:29 pm ET, 2010 Reuters

1. NEW YORK - Smokers often say they need a cigarette to calm their nerves but a British study has found that chronic stress levels may go down after a person kicks the habit.

2. A study of 469 smokers who tried to quit after being hospitalized for heart disease found that those who stayed away from cigarettes for a year reported a reduction in their perceived stress levels.

3. Stress levels were essentially unchanged among heart patients who went back to smoking, according to researchers from Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.

4. The study, reported in the journal Addiction, supported the theory that, at least for some people, smoking actually contributes to chronic stress.

5. \"Smokers often see cigarettes as a tool to manage stress, and ex-smokers sometimes return to smoking in the belief that this will help them cope with a stressful life event,\" researcher Peter Hajek told Reuters Health in an email.

6. Yet studies have shown that non-smokers tend to report lower stress levels than smokers do.

7. The reason for that difference has been unclear, but it could mean that people vulnerable to stress are more likely to take up smoking.

8. On the other hand, smoking itself may generate long-term stress, even if people feel it offers them temporary relief from trying situations.

9. Hajek's study found that most of the 469 smokers -- 85 percent -- believed at the start of the study that smoking helped them deal with stress to some extent. Half said

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that the habit \"very much\" helped them cope.

10. But one year later, the study participants were surveyed again at which point 41 percent had not returned to smoking.

11. On average, Hajek and his colleagues found the abstainers showed a 20 percent reduction in their reported stress levels, while patients who had gone back to smoking showed little change in their perceived stress.

12. The relationship between abstinence and reduced stress held up when the researchers accounted for factors such as patients' age and education, how heavily they had smoked before quitting, and how high their stress scores were at the start of the study.

13. The researchers said the findings support the idea that dependency on cigarettes is itself a chronic source of stress.

14. \"When dependent smokers cannot smoke, as the period without cigarettes lengthens they tend to feel more and more edgy, irritable and uncomfortable,\" Hajek said. \"A cigarette relieves this stressful state, and this is probably the main reason smokers think that smoking relieves stress.\"

15. Someone who smokes 20 cigarettes per day, for example, essentially goes through 20 bouts of stress each day, as the levels of nicotine in the body decline. Once that person quits -- and gets over the initial period of withdrawal -- he will have 20 fewer periods of stress each day, Hajek said.

16. Hajek said these findings suggested that quitting may not only benefit smokers' physical health, but possibly their mental well-being as well.

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Summary:

This news is very meaningful and it belongs to the kind of hard news, not soft news. It tells us an interesting study which draws a conclusion that “giving up smoking can reduce stress levels”. In the news, the writer listed some points of view and findings which could support the study, and also there is some background information in it. In the body part, a typical form-- inverted pyramid -- is used by the author. At last, the author emphasized the study findings once again.

Analysis:

The headline of the news is “Giving up smoking can reduce stress levels: study ”. It is brief and eye-catching at first sight for most of us. As we know that a headline, if effective, must meet two requirements -- to capture the essence of the event and to attract readers’ attention. This writer did a good job in the two points. The headline includes a colon and after that is a word “study” which could explain the former sentence.

In the body part, a typical form-- inverted pyramid -- is used by the author. The most important element was put at first, and the less important later. The first paragraph is the lead, it says: “NEW YORK - Smokers often say they need a cigarette to calm their nerves but a British study has found that chronic stress levels may go down after a person kicks the habit.” We know that there are two kinds of leads: direct lead and delayed lead. The lead of this news is direct lead. It tells readers the most important aspect of the study in a direct and straightforward way. The lead of news often includes five “W”, they are “who”, “what”, “where”, “when” and “why”, sometimes also with “how”. In this news’ lead, we can see four “W” reflect in it: who are involved in this news, what it is about, where and why it happened. The second paragraph tells readers the process and the result of the study, which clarifies the theme of the news.

Later, in the third paragraph, in order to explain what stress levels used for, the writer quoted the researchers’ theory: “Stress levels were essentially unchanged among heart patients who went back to smoking…” From paragraph four to fourteen,

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the writer listed some points of view and findings which could support the study. For example, in the fifth paragraph, some smokers see cigarettes as a tool to manage stress, yet in the sixth paragraph studies have shown the opposite results. In the next paragraph, it says the detail furthermore, “the reason for that difference has been unclear, but it could mean that people vulnerable to stress are more likely to take up smoking.”

From paragraph eight to eleven, the writer tells us another finding of the study, that is, smoking itself could generate long-term stress. This problem is stated in detail. “Hajek's study found that most of the 469 smokers -- 85 percent -- believed at the start of the study that smoking helped them deal with stress to some extent. Half said that the habit very much helped them cope.” But one year later, “the study participants were surveyed again at which point 41 percent had not returned to smoking.” This change is obviously very large to some extent, and it is apparent that without cigarettes, people could reduce their stress levels better. Just as the study’s reported in the later paragraph, on average, abstainers showed a 20 percent reduction in their reported stress levels, while patients who had gone back to smoking showed little change in their perceived stress. So we always say “smoking is harmful to health” in our daily life, and that is useful to us all.

Some background information of the study was given from paragraph twelve to fourteen by the writer, who intent to draw our attention to the factors such as patients' age and education, how heavily they had smoked before quitting, and how high their stress scores were, which also can not be ignored. At the last two paragraphs, the author emphasized the study findings once again. “Hajek said these findings suggested that quitting may not only benefit smokers' physical health, but possibly their mental well-being as well.” It repeats the theme of the news. This kind of method is seldom use in today’s news.

Generally speaking, this news is very meaningful with logical structure and exact words.

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