Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on it.…
2023
Read the given passage and answer the following questions based on it.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases plunged 4.6 percent in 2020, as lockdowns in the first half of the year restricted global mobility and hampered economic activity. Many hoped that this would mark the beginning of a more permanent shift downwards in emissions. Emissions from the manufacturing and the energy sectors contributed the most to recent global increases based on updated information from the IMF’s Climate Change Indicators Dashboard—a joint effort among national and international statistical organizations to provide timely data to help monitor the transition to lower carbon use. As greenhouse gas emissions from human activities increase, they build up in the atmosphere and warm the climate, leading to many other changes around the world—in the atmosphere, on land, and in the oceans. While total emissions have climbed significantly above prepandemic levels, increases from transportation and households were more muted last year as the pandemic weighed on global mobility. This was particularly evident with the emergence of the omicron variant in the fourth quarter of last year. The public health policy measures in many countries drove down the emissions of households and of the electricity sector.
It will be important to monitor the emissions of both of these sectors as economies fully reopen in the context of historically high fossil fuel-based energy prices. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that, in the scenarios they assessed, limiting atmospheric warming to the key level of around 1.5 degrees Celsius requires global greenhouse gas emissions to peak by 2025 at the latest, emphasizing that achieving this milestone is a crucial step towards controlling the severity of climate change. The new data from the climate dashboard underscore what some scientists have warned: time is running out, and we must urgently bend the emissions curve to achieve the necessary reductions to limit atmospheric warming.
What does the passage suggest about the relationship between the pandemic and greenhouse gas emissions?
- A.
The pandemic had no impact on greenhouse gas emissions.
- B.
The pandemic led to an increase in emissions.
- C.
The pandemic caused a temporary decrease in emissions.
- D.
The pandemic gave significant time to construct a proper plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
- E.
The pandemic accelerated emissions from the manufacturing sector.
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
An inference question in reading comprehension asks what the passage logically implies as a whole. The correct choice must be supported by the actual chain of evidence in the text, not by one isolated sentence, and must stay consistent with every later statement. A claim the passage contradicts, or that only half-matches the evidence, is wrong even if it borrows the passage's vocabulary.
Application
Trace what the passage says about the pandemic and emissions, in order:
Emissions “plunged 4.6 percent in 2020” because lockdowns restricted global mobility and economic activity, so the pandemic pushed emissions down.
“Total emissions have climbed significantly above prepandemic levels,” so that drop did not last; it reversed once activity resumed.
Combining the two, the pandemic produced a fall in emissions that was only short-lived, that is, a temporary decrease.
Therefore the passage supports the reading that the pandemic caused a temporary decrease in emissions.
Contrast
“No impact” is contradicted by the explicit 4.6 percent drop attributed to lockdowns.
“An increase” during the pandemic reverses cause and effect: the rise above prepandemic levels came as economies reopened, not from the pandemic itself.
“Gave significant time to construct a plan” adds an intention the passage never states; the text describes measured outcomes, not a planning opportunity.
“Accelerated manufacturing emissions” misreads the text: manufacturing is named as a driver of the longer-term global rise, not as something the pandemic sped up.