1.1. To Smoke or not to Smoke

Actividad de lectura
A la hora de traducir, a menudo te pueden ayudar tus propios conocimientos del tema del texto. Para probar, vas a leer un texto con el título To smoke or not to smoke is not the question. Seguramente adivinarás que trata sobre el tabaco y el fumar. Piensa, antes de leerlo, cuáles podrían ser los argumentos que puedan salir. Luego, cuando lo lees por primera vez, probablemente te ayudará a entenderlo.
Imagen en Flickr de Lori Greig bajo CC |
To Smoke or not To Smoke is not the Question
Everyone agrees that smoking is bad for our health. As a non-smoker, that’s the reason why I have often wondered why smokers are unaware of its terrible effects.
Advertising has always made it attractive to smoke due to the image of success that it is transmitted. However, we all know someone who has health problems as a result of smoking. We all relate cancer to tobacco but only because we are often told so. Many people don’t know why this is true. And that is what I am going to tell you.
A cigarette contains many components, including tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide. Some of them are very harmful. Tar, a mixture of chemicals including arsenic, can cause serious lung diseases. A high percent of the tar from tobacco smoke remains in the smoker’s lungs.
Nicotine is a drug more addictive than heroin and it reaches the brain in a few seconds. One of its major effects is an increased heart rate and blood pressure.
Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas which is formed when a cigarette is lit. The red blood cells absorb it more easily than oxygen, so up to fifteen percent of a smoker’s blood may be carrying carbon monoxide instead of oxygen. As a consequence, the heart has to work harder to pump less oxygen around the body and obviously breathing becomes more difficult.
Please, smokers, have a look at the cigarette packet you have with you, read the advice slowly, look at the image carefully and quit smoking. The sooner you do it, the better it will be for you.

Actividad de lectura
A
continuación tienes una serie de mensajes y consejos relacionados con el
tabaco. Probablemente conocerás muchos de ellos. Tradúcelos con la
ayuda del material que te sea necesario.
1. Don't make children breathe your smoke.
2. Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious damages to your health.
3. Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth and low birth weight.
4. Tobacco kills millions of people all over the world every year.
5. Smokers can improve their respiration by stopping smoking.
6. Tobacco seriously damages health.
7. Smoking causes cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
8. Protect children from breathing your smoke.
9. Smoking can kill you.
10. Smoking by teenagers may cause lung or pharynx cancer at an older age.
11. Non-smokers don't have to breathe the smokers' smoke.
12. If you want to improve your quality of life, put out your last cigarette.
13. When people smoke, the heat of the smoke damages the pharynx by burning cells. In the long run, this will cause the pharynx cancer.

Importante
En el texto anterior aparece una estructura oracional que probablemente te habrá llamado la atención. Al final del texto nos dice:
The sooner you do it, the better it will be for you.
Se trata de una oración con una estructura comparativa muy peculiar. En esa oración compuesta, tenemos dos claúsulas, y en las dos y en posición inicial aparece un adjetivo en forma comparativa (soon - sooner, good - better) con el artículo antepuesto y tras ellos el resto del enunciado. La traducción de esa oración es Cuanto o Mientras antes lo hagas, mejor será para ti. Se establece una relación de dependencia o de proporcionalidad entre las dos partes. Pueden ser de forma positiva o negativa. Fíjate en los siguientes ejemplos.
- The more I drink, the thirstier I feel.
Cuanto más bebo, más sediento me siento.
2.The more comfortable a sofa is, the easier it is to fall asleep on it.
Cuanto más cómodo es un sofá, más fácil es quedarse dormido en él.
3.The more you ignore me, the closer I get.
Cuanto más me ignoras, más cerca me siento.
4.The simpler the plot of a film is, the likelier it is to be a box office success.
Cuanto más simple es el argumento de una película, más probable es que sea un éxito de taquilla.