Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
On the first Sunday of every month, a few dozen volunteers, most of them under twenty-five, gather at a lake on the edge of the city to drag out plastic and water hyacinth. Ask them why they come, and few mention the lake. A second-year student, her gloves black with silt, told me she had spent many nights last summer lying awake after reading about heatwaves. Out here, she said, her hands were busy and her head was quieter.
Surveys in many countries find that a large share of young people are worried about climate change. The tempting response is to treat this as a disorder to be managed. Most psychologists resist that. Climate anxiety is not listed as a mental illness, and many see it as a sane reaction to a real threat. The trouble lies less in the worry than in what it does when it has nowhere to go.
Where it should go is less obvious than the slogans suggest. “Just do something” is the usual advice, and it is not wrong. Studies of collective action suggest that working with others eases helplessness better than private fretting does. Yet action is no dependable cure. Young campaigners speak openly of burnout, and a teenager who believes the planet hangs on her weekends can end up more anxious, not less. The advice also loads a vast problem onto very young shoulders.
Some would call the Sunday clean-up Sisyphean. The lake will be choked with plastic again by March, and the climate will not notice. The volunteers would probably agree. They come anyway, and by noon the student with the silted gloves is arguing with a friend about which chai stall is worth the walk.
The detail that by noon the student is arguing with a friend about a chai stall suggests that
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → for a while, the worry that once kept her awake has loosened its hold on her
The last line shows the same student from the first paragraph in a light, everyday mood.
- Last summer she lay awake many nights “after reading about heatwaves”.
- At the lake her hands are busy and her head is “quieter”. By noon she is busy arguing about which chai stall is best.
- So, for the time being, the worry does not fill her mind. The passage does not say it is gone for good. That is why “for a while” fits.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: she has lost interest in the clean-up now that the lake is nearly clean — Incorrect. Contradicted: The lake will be “choked with plastic again by March”. It is not nearly clean, and she still comes.
Option 2: the volunteers come to the lake more for food and friends than for the work — Incorrect. Wrong reason: The volunteers come because the work quiets their worry. The chai talk shows her mood, not the reason she comes.
Option 3: she has come to think the climate problem is less serious than she feared — Incorrect. Not mentioned: Nothing shows that her view of the problem has changed. Only her mood has eased.