Today is New Year’s Day, the first day of 2014 on the Western calendar. All around the world, countries celebrated at midnight with fireworks. There were fireworks in many cities in New Zealand too, at midnight.
For people who smoke, January 1st means another 10% increase in the cost of cigarettes. This happened last year and the year before and will happen next year and the year after. The aim is to encourage people to quit smoking. Census figures showed that the percentage of New Zealanders who smoke dropped from 21% in 2006 to 15% last year. A person who smokes 1 pack of cigarettes a day, can save $7000 in a year by quitting now.
Listen to January 1st 2013 to hear more about New Year’s Day in New Zealand.
Vocabulary
- Western calendar – also called the Gregorian or Christian calendar
- quit – stop
- last year – 2013
- the year before – 2012
- next year – 2015
- the year after – 2016
- encourage – give people a gentle push, not force them
Question
Smoking is a personal matter. Why is the New Zealand government trying to encourage people to quit smoking?