Please read this vocabulary lesson at your natural speed, though it should not be too fast so that I could imitate your pronunciation easily.
Describe something which you find very annoying
What is it?
Why does it annoy you?
How do other people feel about it?
This is an extremely easy question for me to answer, as the thing I find incredibly annoying is smoking. I have never smoked in my life and am actually allergic to it. I regard people who smoke as selfish and self-centred. I am so strongly against it that I believe it should be totally outlawed. I doubt this would ever happen though because people would say ‘you can’t ban it, what about people’s human rights?’ What about the non-smokers’ human rights though? A few years ago smoking was banned in restaurants, pubs etc and I actually think this has exacerbated the situation. Nowadays when you walk past an office, shop, pub, any building in fact you are confronted by smokers breathing out stale cigarette smoke. Passive smoking has therefore increased substantially. Another thing about it that I find exceedingly annoying is that smokers always smell of stale smoke so if you are sitting next to one all you can smell is the smoke on their clothes. People are generally split on this issue – people who smoke feel that they have an absolute right to smoke and that removing this right from them is totally against their human rights; the non-smokers on the other hand feel that they have a right to breathe in fresh air rather than second hand smoke. It is very difficult to find a compromise in this situation. I think that smokers and the government feel that they have reached a compromise by banning smoking in work places, however I would still argue that this does not go far enough. Increasing the cost of cigarettes seems to have had little effect, as there is still a great deal of smokers and there seems to be a great number of young people who are taking up this disgusting habit. The ideal situation for me would be a worldwide ban, but sadly I am convinced this will never happen.
