E-Cigarettes or Electronic Cigarettes are Battery-Operated Devices in GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

E-cigarettes or electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices in high-tech designs that give scented vapors of nicotine for the user to inhale. Since these devices vaporize a liquid containing nicotine, and since the produced vapor is inhaled or "vaped", the user gets a sensation similar to that of smoking regular cigarettes but without the smoke, the smell, or the cancer-causing tar produced by burning tobacco. According to manufacturers of e-cigarettes, these devices are intended only for adults who want to give up smoking.

Readily available across the counter, sleek enough to sneak into the school, and devoid of the telltale smoke and smell, vaping devices are being rampantly used by students in spite of all efforts by parents and teachers alike to stop their usage, however. Moreover, as the popularity and ease of availability of e-cigarettes rose, "vaping" turned into the most popular form of nicotine consumption among teenagers in U.S. high and middle schools: e-cigarette use increased by 900 percent among these students from 2011 to 2015. Disciplinary actions such as detention and expulsion have been unable to make the teenagers give up e cigarettes. Moreover, a majority of them were nonsmokers before taking to the device. Students argue that vaping is merely a habit and not an addiction. They agree that there are chemicals in vaping but less than those in cigarettes. School authorities, on the other hand, believe that e-cigarettes are creating a whole new generation of nicotine addicts.

School officials rue the fact that students are misguided in equating safer with safe: The manufacturers’ claim that e-cigarettes are safer than cigarettes does not mean the devices are safe in general, they say. Additionally, there are several reasons to doubt the "safer" claim too. Firstly, e-cigarettes contain additives that may seem harmless at the outset but form cancer-causing compounds when heated. Secondly, a higher concentration of nicotine in the vaping pods than found in regular cigarettes makes e-cigarettes much more addictive than the regular ones. Thirdly, studies indicate that vaping caused more teenagers to try out cigarettes. Finally, there isn't enough research to fully understand the potential long-term risks to health. The risks of cigarettes are well documented, but e-cigarettes are too new for the researchers to comprehend their ill-effects, turning today's youth into a "guinea pig generation".

“E-Cigarettes or Electronic Cigarettes are Battery-Operated Devices in” is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates must have a solid grip in English GMAT reading comprehension. There are 4 multiple choice questions in the above GMAT Reading Comprehension passages. GMAT Reading Comprehension Questions are delineated to evaluate candidates’ abilities to analyze and be conceptual for the answers. Candidates can brace up and take preparation by answering GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. According to the passage, e-cigarettes are highly addictive because:

1. Students feel safer when vaping and hence tend to smoke more.
2. Parental control and school intervention are less effective in controlling vaping.
3. Vaping devices have a higher concentration of nicotine than a regular cigarette.
4. Ease of access leads to a false sense of security causing them to continue smoking.
5. Vaping involves heating of nicotine as against burning of tobacco in regular cigarettes.

2. Which of the following makes vaping arguably not safer than smoking regular cigarettes?

1. Vaping allows lower concentrations of nicotine to enter the inhaler’s body.
2. E-cigarettes can help adult nicotine users quit smoking.
3. E-cigarettes cannot be sold to underage teenagers as per the federal laws.
4. Vaping may not always lead to a full-blown smoking addiction.
5. Little is known about the long-term dangers of e-cigarettes.

3. What is the main motive of the passage?

1. To describe how a recent phenomenon has become a rage among the young generation.
2. To argue that a new phenomenon is not necessarily worse off than a similar older one.
3. To draw a comparison between two similar phenomena.
4. To highlight a growing addiction in teens and cite reasons why the addiction could be problematic.
5. To discuss the advantages of a recently developed phenomenon.

4. Which of the following cannot be said about e-cigarettes?

1. They are small enough to be smuggled undetected into the school.
2. They do not emit the odor of tobacco during vaping.
3. They are not as harmful as regular tobacco cigarettes.
4. Many students would rather be expelled from school than give up e-cigarettes.
5. They are designed to provide the experience of smoking without many of the ensuing ill-effects.

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