E-cigarettes, widely promoted as an alternative to smoking, are actually attracting young people who might not otherwise have smoked tobacco products, a new U.S. study suggested.

美国一项新的调查研究显示，电子烟，作为戒烟者被广泛推崇使用的吸烟替代品，实际上却大大吸引了那些不抽烟的青少年的注意。

E-cigarettes are thought by some to be responsible for a decline¹ in American youth cigarette smoking, but researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) indicated the reality is the opposite.

在美国，大家认为是电子烟的使用降低了青少年的吸烟率，但美国旧金山加利福尼亚大学的研究人员发现，事实恰好相反。

The USCF researchers concluded that many kids who went on to smoke regular cigarettes may not have used nicotine² at all if e-cigarettes did not exist.

加利福尼亚大学的研究人员总结称，电子烟的出现让那些平时只抽普通香烟的孩子开始接触尼古丁。

"We didn't find any evidence that e-cigarettes are causing youth smoking to decline," said lead author Lauren Dutra of the UCSF.

加利福尼亚大学该项研究的主要负责人劳伦·杜特拉表示：“目前我们还未找到任何可以证明改抽电子烟能降低青少年吸烟率的证据。”

"Some of the kids using e-cigarettes were also smoking cigarettes, we found that kids who were at low risk of starting nicotine with cigarettes were using e-cigarettes," Dutra said. "Recent declines³ in youth smoking are likely due to tobacco control efforts, not to e-cigarettes."

杜特拉说道：“一些孩子在使用电子烟的同时也在抽烟，我们发现那些接触尼古丁香烟可能性较小的孩子也在抽电子烟。近期青少年吸烟率的下降很可能是由于禁烟力度的加强，而非电子烟的功劳。”

For the study, researchers examined data from more than 140,000 middle and high school students who completed a U.S. government tobacco survey between 2004 and 2014.

针对这项研究，研究人员还专门调出了2004年至2014年接受美国政府吸烟调查的约140,000名初、高中生的数据。

They found that cigarette smoking among U.S. adolescents declined⁴ during that decade, but did not decline faster after the advent⁵ of e-cigarettes in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009.

他们发现，在这十年内，吸烟的青少年的数量在下降，但在2007年至2009年期间，由于电子烟的出现，下降的速度开始变慢。

In fact, combined e-cigarette and cigarette use among adolescents in 2014 was higher than total cigarette use in 2009, according to the study.

事实上，据研究发现，2014年同时在抽烟和抽电子烟的青少年数量要比2009年显示的吸烟数据更高。

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that look like cigarettes and deliver an aerosol⁶ of nicotine and other chemicals.

电子烟是带电池的电子香烟，看起来就像是真的香烟一样，通过雾化等手段，将尼古丁或者其他化学物质等变成蒸汽。