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.
Which of the following statements are NOT true according to the passage?
(A) Most of the volunteers the writer met said they came out of concern for the lake itself.
(B) According to the writer, most psychologists do not regard climate anxiety as a disorder.
(C) Studies suggest that worrying in private eases helplessness better than working with others.
(D) The writer suggests that taking action can sometimes leave a young person more anxious.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (A) and (C) only
The question asks for the statements that are NOT true.
(A) Most of the volunteers the writer met said they came out of concern for the lake itself. — Not true.
- The passage says, “Ask them why they come, and few mention the lake.”
(B) According to the writer, most psychologists do not regard climate anxiety as a disorder. — True.
- On treating it as a disorder, the writer says, “Most psychologists resist that.” Resist means refuse to accept.
(C) Studies suggest that worrying in private eases helplessness better than working with others. — Not true.
- It is the other way round.
- Working with others eases helplessness “better than private fretting does”.
(D) The writer suggests that taking action can sometimes leave a young person more anxious. — True.
- A teenager who thinks the planet depends on her weekends “can end up more anxious, not less”.