① Today cigarette taxes rise for the sixth time in seven years, by 12.5%.
② It is the first in a round of four new increases that will push prices above A$40 ($32) per packet.
③ Prohibitive policies have sharply reduced Australia's smoking rate: at 13%, it is among the lowest in the rich world.
④ Cigarettes are banned indoors and in many outdoor public spaces, and shops must stash them beneath their counters.
⑤ Tobacco giants were most incensed by a pioneering plain-packaging law passed in 2011 that swapped flashy branding for a uniform font and images of the habit's foul effects—a breach, the companies tried to argue, of intellectual-property rights.
⑥ They sued Australia, in venues from local courts to a UN tribunal.
⑦ But judges rejected every case.
⑧ Plain packets are now sold in Britain and France, and are coming soon to Ireland, Hungary and Slovenia.
⑨ Expect many more countries to follow the pack.
prohibitive /prə(ʊ)ˈhɪbɪtɪv/: adj. 禁止的；(价格过高) 令人望而却步的 (e.g. prohibitive law / policy)
indoors /ɪnˈdɔːz/: adv. 室内地；在室内
indoor: adj. 室内的
stash /staʃ/: vt. 藏匿
incense /ˈɪnsɛns/: vt. 激怒
swap /swɒp/: vt. 交换
flashy /ˈflaʃi/: adj. 艳俗的
font /fɒnt/: n. 字体
foul /faʊl/: adj. 糟糕的；污秽的；恶心的
breach /briːtʃ/: n. 侵犯；侵害；违反
tribunal /trʌɪˈbjuːn(ə)l/ /trɪˈbjuːn(ə)l/: n. 仲裁法庭
death and horror—not the glamour
and sophistication the pushers
in the tobacco industry
try to portray."
