ENHANCEMENT CLASS/ REVISION FOR FINAL

COURSE : PROFICIENCY ENGLISH II

COURSE CODE : HPE 1023

DURATION : TAKE HOME/ IN CLASS

EXERCISE

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

1. This paper consists of THREE(3) parts: PART A (Reading Comprehension)

PART B (Grammar)
PART C (Writing)

2. Answer ALL questions from PART A, PART B and PART C in the Question
Paper.

3. Please write your answer using a ball-point pen.

NAME : ___________________________________________
ID.NO : ________________________________________________
LECTURER : ________________________________________________
CLASS : ___________________________________________

DO NOT OPEN THE QUESTION PAPER UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.
The question paper consists of 6 printed pages
PART A: READING COMPREHENSION
Read the following text and answer the questions that follow.

New centres to boost MSC flagship apps

1 CYBERJAYA: Initiatives to bolster development of the Multimedia Super

Corridor’s (MSC) Flagship Applications are scheduled to be launched next
month. Officials from Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC) said the MSC
Flagship Centre and the Centre for Telehealth and Medical Enterprises were set up
to promote innovation and R&D for the MSC’s existing Flagship Applications.

2 “They will enhance these Flagship Applications,” MDC senior vice-president for
regulation Narayanan Kanan said. He declined to provide more details on the new
centres and would only say that more information would be given at the
launch. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad is due to unveil the two
centres on Sept 6 at an official ceremony here, as part of events lined up in
conjunction with the Sixth MSC International Advisory Panel Meeting (IAP) to be
held from Sept 4 to 7.

3 While few details on the new centres have been made available, they are at least
expected to complement the ongoing development of the Flagship Applications,
which form the core of the MSC and were introduced to jumpstart its development
when it was launched six years ago. The applications were also earmarked to
position the MSC as a platform – or test bed – for technology to be developed and
used in government, health, education and business.

4 There are eight Flagship Applications, including those for telehealth, electronic
government and technology-aided education, or smart schools. Each has a far-
reaching scope and wide-ranging application, making them large projects – in both
complexity and cost – when they are to be rolled out on a national scale. “The
flagships are very important ... they are huge items,” Narayanan told reporters last
week at a briefing on the upcoming Malaysia ICT Week, which will be held in

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 conjunction with the IAP meeting and include several exhibitions showcasing the
current state of the Flagship Applications.

5 According to MDC, a few applications have moved beyond the pilot phase, in
which several of the more daunting projects still remain. The Government
Multipurpose Card application – now known as MyKad – has by far been the most
successfully implemented. About two million Malaysians are holders of the card,
which is a chip-based smartcard containing several application including the
national identity card, driving licence and passport, as well as transactional features
like the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) and Touch ‘n’ Go payment application.

6 An official with GMPC Corporation Sdn Bhd, the technology providers for MyKad,
said the MyKad pilot phase is almost complete and has largely been successful.
MyKad’s success could also be measured from another angle – it has reportedly
made its way into the hands of some illegal immigrants. The Government is
scheduled to review the results of the pilot run before the expected nationwide
rollout next year.

7 Big ticket items like the Telehealth and Smart Schools applications would be much
harder and costlier to roll out – there are thousands of health facilities and schools
spread out across Malaysia. MDC said the pilot phases of these Flagship
Applications were “progressing well.” “The results have been extremely
encouraging,” said Narayanan, adding that the new centres would aid the progress
of the Flagship Applications further.

8 He also said that the current thinking within the Government and, specifically,
MDC was already focused on the task of rolling out the applications nationwide. He
acknowledged that the effort would be huge, but he indicated that there was no
turning back. “(While) it has to be a political decision (to move the projects
further), (in the end) we (will) have to do it anyway,” said Narayanan. “Our
country’s future depends on it.”
(Taken from The Star dated August 21, 2002, written by RASLAN SHARIF)

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PART A: READING COMPREHENSION

1. What do the following words from the text refer to?

a. They (para 2) __________________________

b. He (para 2) __________________________
c. they (para 3) __________________________
d. it (para 6) __________________________
e. he (para 8) __________________________

(5 marks)

2. Write the closest meaning for each of the following word according to the text.

a. Initiatives (para 1) : ______________________

b. innovation (para 1) : ______________________

c. official (para 2) : ______________________

d. complement (para 3) : ______________________

e. core (para 3) : ______________________

(5 marks)

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3. Answer the following comprehension questions according to the passage.

a. Who is responsible to unveil the MSC flagship Centre and Centre for Telehealth
and Medical Enterprises on September 6?
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(1 mark)
b. What do MSC flagship Centre and Centre for Telehealth and Medical Enterprises
MSC flagship expected to complement?
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(3 marks)
c. What are the Flagship Applications mentioned in the text?
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(4 marks)
d. According to MDC, how many Malaysians hold the MyKad at the moment?
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(1 mark)

e. What are the features of MyKad?

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(5 marks)
f. Who is the technology provider for MyKad?
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(1 mark)
Total: 30 marks

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PART B: GRAMMAR SECTION C
Instructions: Read the sentences below. Each of them contains an error. Circle the errors
and write the most suitable words in the space provided to replace the errors.

1. Unlike the Spanish fighting bulls, the Madurese racing bulls live to competed time
A B C
and time again.
D ___________________

2. Many young boys has dreams of becoming policemen, firemen or soldiers when

A B C

they are older.

D ___________________

3. There are a lot of important personality in Malaysia that deserve some attention.
A B C D
___________________

4. Today, many young people love to get together and painted their own rooms
A B C
especially during the school vacation.
D ___________________

5. Most tourists who visits Malaysia say that their favourite part of the country is the
A B C D
East Coast. ___________________

(10 marks)

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PART C: WRITING

QUESTION 1

Write an essay on the advantages and disadvantages of keeping information manually i.e.
in files and storing it in a computer. The length of your essay must not exceed 250 words.

Total: 15 marks

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QUESTION 2

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Read the following passage carefully. In about 80 words, summarize the text.

Go to school in a box

1 KUALA LUMPUR: AIMS-Technology Sdn Bhd has formed an alliance with

British wireless networking company Red-M to develop and distribute an e-learning
solution the latter’s officials described as a “school in a box.” The solution would
incorporate Red-M’s Portable Office server and AIMS-Technology’s education
software, and had the potential for an international market according to AIMS-
Technology managing director Ashran Ghazi.

2 Red-M non-executive director Robert Madge described Portable Office as a

wireless controller which incorporated Red-M’s Bluetooth Access point technology
and a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) transceiver. It was also a platform for
what Ashran described as educational content and administrative software for
school administrators and teachers to access school records, lessons and curricula,
and students’ marks and performance.

3 They would be able to do this through a Web-based interface, from anywhere in the
country. Ashran said his company expected to have a “school in a box” pilot project
ready for the coming school year, which begins in January 2003, covering physics
and chemistry. In addition to this, teachers and software developers would also be
encouraged to develop e-learning packages in whatever subjects they chose, he
added.

4 He also said that AIMS-Technology’s marketing subsidiary E-Mediation Asia Sdn

Bhd was in preliminary talks with educational institutions in Thailand about
bringing the “school in a box” package to that country, and would be seeking to
market the combined package in the Philippines as well.

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 5 However, Ashran said that no price had been set for the package as yet.
Madge, who was in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of the Multimedia Super
Corridor’s International Advisory Panel (IAP) – as chairman of Madge Networks,
he is a founding member of the IAP – said if the current Smart School programme
succeeded, there would be thousands of PCs to be installed in Malaysian schools
over the next few years.

6 “It’s a mammoth task. You need enough computers, at least in the learning
laboratories; you need to manage all those PCs, you need a software
management platform, and if you want to have file-sharing between schools – such
as teachers sharing notes and lesson plans – you need external networking
capabilities,” Madge observed. He said that GPRS was a neat way to provide that
last requirement, since all that current second-generation cellular network operators
had to do to upgrade their networks was to add GPRS converters. Several
Malaysian cellular operators have already added GPRS capability to their
networks.

(Taken from The Star dated September 9, 2002, written by H. AMIR KHALID)

(Total: 10marks)

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Write your summary here.

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(Total: 10marks)

END OF PAPER

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