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 writer’s attitude towards the advice to ‘just do something’ can best be described as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Measured agreement, tempered by doubts about how far it can help
The writer partly agrees with the advice to “just do something” but also sees its limits.
- The writer says the advice “is not wrong”. Working with others does ease helplessness. This is measured agreement, which means calm agreement that does not go too far.
- Then come the doubts. Action is “no dependable cure”, and it can leave a teenager “more anxious, not less”. It also puts a huge problem on “very young shoulders”.
- Tempered by means made milder by. The writer’s agreement is made milder by these doubts.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Wholehearted endorsement, tempered by a fear that few will follow it — Incorrect. Overstated: Wholehearted endorsement means full support without any doubt. The writer has real doubts about the advice itself.
Option 2: Sardonic dismissal, tempered by sympathy for those who repeat it — Incorrect. Contradicted: Sardonic dismissal means rejecting something with a mocking smile. The writer does not reject the advice and says it “is not wrong”.
Option 3: Weary indifference, tempered by mild curiosity about its results — Incorrect. Contradicted: Weary indifference means a tired lack of interest. The writer weighs the advice closely, so the writer does care about it.