1 . How to Improve Climate Literacy

Climate literacy is the ability to identify, understand and explain information associated with climate science.     1    

Over the past few years, many young people and educators have pushed for the inclusion of climate literacy in national curricula. So what are the best ways in which this can be embedded within already packed school timetables?

True climate literacy must address not only the science of climate change, but also issues of climate (in)justice, including how climate change affects people and places unevenly and contributes to inequalities within and across nations.

    2     Many people in developed countries like the UK therefore see climate change happening elsewhere and to other people, with less relevance to their own lives.

    3     We need to start highlighting the local effects of climate change to ground abstract understanding in reality.

One way to do this is through visual storytelling. Storytelling, often involving drawings and paintings, has been used by human communities to pass on knowledge or tales of caution for at least 30,000 years — as you can see from the cave painting.

One effect of storytelling is its ability to create cognitive dissonance: the mental conflict and discomfort felt when a person’s behaviour isn’t in line with their beliefs. Stories that demonstrate the consequences of not acting eco-consciously — especially if those consequences are shown visually — can be a good way to do this, leading to individuals being more likely to take climate action in their own lives or by confronting corporate activities.

A．Therefore, the teachers we worked with remarked that lessons are typically focused on the physical processes of climate change.

B．However, at present, much of climate change education is focused on the physical aspects of climate change, often at a global scale.

C．The next stages of our research will reflect how a separated community has come together through this journey towards climate literacy.

D．Being climate literate allows individuals to become active participants in the fight against climate change.

E．This collective psychological distancing means many fail to recognise the urgency of the climate crisis.

2 . China’s policy of planting trees is likely playing a significant role in tempering its climate impacts. An international team has identified two areas in the country where the scale of carbon dioxide absorption by new forests has been underestimated. Taken together, these areas account for a little over 35% of China’s entire land carbon “sink”, the group says.
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．Greenhouse Gas Emission Largely Reduced

B．Roles of Carbon Sinks Proved by New Study

C．China’s Forest Carbon Absorption Underestimated

D．Climate Impacts Balanced Due to China’s Afforestation

3 . Even before they became fashionable companions for humans, Asia’s wild otters faced plenty of threats. Their habitats are disappearing. They have long been hunted for their coats, or killed by farmers who wish to prevent them consuming fishes. The pet trade, which began picking up in the early 2000s but appeared to speed up a few years ago, has made things worse. The numbers of wild Asian small-clawed otters and smooth-coated otters, two species that are in highest demand, have declined by at least 30% in the three decades to 2019.

The international agreement that governs trade in wildlife, known as CITES, now prohibits cross-border trade in these species. But laws banning ownership are often poorly implemented, as in Thailand, or full of holes, as in Indonesia. And the otter-keeping craze has been dramatically improved by the internet, says Vincent Nijman of Oxford Brookes University.

The purpose of the writing is to ________.

A．advertise for a photo-sharing app

B．introduce the popularity of pet otters

C．discourage the illegal otter pet trade

D．describe the characteristics of otters