MUET 2018 Session 1 – Paper 3 Reading – Part 1

Question 1 to 7 are based on the following passage.

Electronic cigarettes, which are also known as electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) and e-cigarettes, are devices that deliver a vaporised mixture of nicotine and other chemicals to the user’s lungs. Each device has an electronic vaporisation system and controls, rechargeable batteries, and cartridges, which contain varying amounts of liquid nicotine to be vaporised instead of the usual tobacco.

Most ENDS also contain propylene glycol, which is an irritant when inhaled. Some ENDS have flavours that are attractive to the user, and some claim they do not contain nicotine. Although many ENDS appear like their tobacco counterparts, a match or lighter is not required for its use. All that is needed is converting it to vapour, which is inhaled. The users appear to be smoking a cigarette but there is no smell because there is no burning.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Tobacco Survey 2011, there were 4.747 million smokers until mid-year of 2011. The report also indicated that about 21 percent of adults in Malaysia had heard aboout e-cigarettes and a popularity of ENDS smoking in Malaysian adult was only 0.8 percent, an estimated 164,000 people. It is estimated that about one in five smokers in developed countries have tried ENDS.

Table 1 presents the percentage of smokers aged 15 years and older. The use of such products was very low, with 0.9 percent being male, and 0.6 percent being female.

Table 1: Percentage of smokers aged 15 years and older who use e-cigarettes

	Male	Female
Current users of electronic cigarettes	0.9%	0.6%
Daily smoker	0.4%	0.5%
Occasional smoker	0.5%	0.1%
Non-users of electronic cigarettes	99.1%	99.4%

The jury is still out on the safety of ENDS. There is insufficient information from scientific studies available to make definitive conclusions about its safety. There are, however, reports that the vapour from ENDS causes irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, affecting breathing and causing nausea in people with certain health conditions. All in all, whether it is conventional cigarette or ENDS, inhaling chemical substance into body is still hazardous to our health.

1. Electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) convert tobaccos into water vapours.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
2. E-cigarettes appeal to users because they do not emit any smell.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
3. According to the report, the number of Malaysian e-cigarette users is increasing.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
4. The majority of e-cigarette users were occasional users.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
5. Many e-cigarette users are below the age of fifteen.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
6. The introduction of ENDS has led to a healthier lifestyle among smokers.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated
7. Conventional cigarettes have more harmful substances than ENDS.
   1. True
   2. False
   3. Not Stated

Question 8 to 14 are based on the following passage.

The wrong approach to wiping out mosquitoes that cause dengue infections could lead to worse epidemics in the future, according to a recent study. Targeting only mosquito larvae, and not the adults with insecticides may work in the short run, but could result in higher resistance in the insects and less immunity among humans, especially in urban settings, the study found.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne infection that causes severe flu-like symptoms in some 50 million people every year, mainly in developing countries. Global incidence of the disease, which is rarely fatal but often debilitating, has risen dramatically in recent decades, linked to both rapid urbanisation and the impact of global warming. Some 2.5 billion people are at risk. There is no treatment, cure or vaccine – the only way to control the disease is to kill the mosquitoes that carry it, especially one species: Aedes aegypti. But which insecticide works best, how frequently they should be appliedand whether it is more effective to target mosquitoes in their larval or adult stage are  still being debated among experts.

Researchers led by Paula Luz of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation of Rio De Janeiro used mathematics and computer models to stimulate the impact over five years of dozens of different strategies for reducing the vectors involved in the transmission and spread of dengue. The cost of different approaches was also taken into account, using World Health Organization (WHO) cost-effectiveness guidelines, that is, the trade-off between results and price tag.

The method used in most countries – attempting to destroy the breeding areas – is misguided according to the study published in The Lancet. “Year-round larval control can be counter-productive, exacerbating epidemics in later years because of evolution of insecticide resistance and lost herd immunity,” the researchers said. “Herd immunity” is the term scientists use to describe immunity that occurs when enough of the population is inoculated from having had the disease to prevent it from spreading easily. The problem of mosquitoes adapting to insecticide – as happened with dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in the 1950s and 1960s – was common to all strategies, but not all were as effective in reducing disease outbreak over a long period. All the strategies employed so far were not as effective as expected because mosquitoes could adapt to the insecticide as was the case with DDT in 1950s and 1960s.

“The main conclusion is that when you compare all the proposals for controlling dengue, the most cost-effective is killing adult mosquitoes,” commented Eduardo Massad, a professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo. “This is one that has the least problem of evolving resistance, and which is most effective in killing mosquitoes.” Massad said his own modelling research had reached a similar conclusion, showing that targeting adults is many thousands of times more effective.

He has not, however, been able to convince health officials in his country to switch tactics, he added. “The most applied strategy is to search and destroy breeding places. This has not worked well – we need a new strategy, one that does not exist yet, but I am sure that we will find one soon.” he said.

8. There is no connection between the dramatic increase in dengue infection and rapid urbanisation.

1. True
2. False
3. Not Stated

9. More people in developing countries are dying from dengue infection.

1. True
2. False
3. Not Stated

10. Trying to kill mosquito larvae with insecticide can lead to mosquitoes developing resistance to the insecticide.

1. True
2. False
3. Not Stated

11. The aim of the research conducted at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio De Janeiro is to study

1. the long-term impact of mosquito-borne diseases using scientific models
2. the different procedures for reducing the vectors involved in dengue infections
3. the relationship between the breeding plates of mosquitoes and the incidence of dengue

12. This is one that has the least problem (italic-bold paragraph 5). One refers to

1. a method
2. a proposal
3. a conclusion

13. The strategy to search and destroy breeding places (italic-bold paragraph 6)

1. is popular
2. is the most effective
3. is easy to implement

14. The article ends on

1. a hopeful note
2. a cheerful note
3. a determine note

Answers:

1. B
2. C
3. C
4. B
5. C
6. B
7. C
8. B
9. C
10. A
11. B
12. B
13. A
14. C

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