Smoking, drinking and drug use among secondary school pupils have more than halved over the past 10 years, figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre(HSCIC) suggest.

Between 2003 and 2013, regular smoking fell from 9% to 3% of 11- to 15-year-olds. Regular alcohol drinking dropped from 25% to 9%. In the 2003 survey, one in four school pupils said they had drunk alcohol in the past week. In 2013, the figure was one in 10. Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity Ash, said smoking levels among 15-year-olds were now well below the government target of 12%. She said action taken by the government to ban tobacco advertising, put larger health warnings on packs and make all enclosed public places smoke-free had made a difference.

“But more needs to be done and plain standardized tobacco packs are the obvious next step,” she said. Fears that electronic cigarettes could become a gateway into smoking for young people have not come into reality so far, she added. “We need to keep monitoring use in young people, and make sure advertising and promotion of electronic cigarettes don’t appear attractive to them.”

The percentage of pupils who said they smoked at least one cigarette a week in 2003 fell by two-thirds, to 3% in 2013. The proportion of young people who said they had tried smoking halved from 42% in 2003 to 22% in 2013 - the lowest level since the survey began in 1982.

When pupils were asked what activities were acceptable at their age, they said using illegal drugs was the least acceptable. Only one in 20 agreed it was acceptable to take cannabis once a week, whereas one in four said it was acceptable to drink alcohol once a week.

Kingsley Manning, chairman of the HSCIC, said the report provided encouraging evidence that fewer young people are regularly smoking, drinking or using drugs. “Our report will be of great interest to services for young people, policy leaders and those working in public health.”

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1.How many regular alcohol drinkers were there in 2013?

A 3%.

B 25%.

C 9%.

D 12%.

解析：选C。C。细节理解题。根据文章第二段Regular alcohol drinking dropped from 25% to 9%.可知，到2013年，经常饮酒的学生只占9%。故选C。

2.What brought the regular smokers to a fall?

A Tobacco advertisements.

B Actions by the government.

C Plain standardized tobacco packs.

D Attraction of electronic cigarettes.

解析：选B。B。细节理解题。根据文章第二段…action taken by the government …had made a difference可知，政府采取的一系列有利措施起到了阻止年轻人吸烟的作用。

3.What activity did the pupils think most unacceptable?

A Taking cannabis once a week.

B Drinking alcohol once a week.

C Smoking electronic cigarettes.

D Trying smoking cigarettes.

解析：选A。A。细节理解题。根据文章第五段对学生的调查可知，他们认为using illegal drugs was the least acceptable即吸毒是他们认为最不能接受的活动，根据语境，cannibals(摇头丸)就是前文所指的毒品，故选A。

4.What can be inferred from the passage?

A Electronic cigarettes are more likely to turn young people into smokers.

B Policy leaders are interested in the HSCIC report.

C Those working in public health feared the health of the young people.

D Health warning signs on the packs are scary and impressive.

解析：选D。D。推理判断题。根据文章第二段可知，烟盒上的明显的健康警告触目惊心，起到了阻止学生吸烟的作用。

5.What column does this article belong to in a newspaper?

A Lifestyle.

B Health.

C Entertainment.

D Environment.

解析：选B。B。推理判断题。这是一篇介绍英国学生吸烟、酗酒人数下降的报告，是由英国的一个健康中心提供的，文章末尾尤其提到了有利于公共健康部门制定政策的情况，故本文应属于报纸的“健康”栏目。因此选B。