Read the passage and answer the questions that follow: Climate change will…
2023
Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:
Climate change will have broad impacts on human society. Changes projected to occur in the coming century or two won't have the apocalyptic, civilization-destroying character of, say an all-out nuclear war or a direct hit from a large asteroid. But climate change will be disruptive in many ways to a civilization whose planetary home is already under stress from the demands of billions of human beings.
The physical impacts of climate change won't be evenly distributed around the globe. Low-lying coastal regions, for example, will suffer more from sea-level rise; continental interiors will see more drought; and high latitudes will warm disproportionately. For that reason alone, impacts will vary from country to country. But social, political, and economic considerations also alter the impact of a changing climate. That's because wealthier countries are better able to adapt to and counter deleterious effects. Wealthy countries can build protective seawalls to ward off the rising oceans; they can engineer massive water projects to ensure continuing supplies of freshwater; they can outbid poorer countries if declines in domestic agriculture require increased food imports; their advanced health care systems can better cope with spreading tropical diseases; and their robust economies can speed recovery from extreme weather events. We're forced to the unfortunate conclusion that climate change will exacerbate the gap between rich and poor nations, as those with the fewest resources will be the most vulnerable. This conclusion should be especially troubling because anthropogenic climate change is almost entirely the result of fossil fuel consumption, deforestation, and other activities carried out by or for the benefit of the developed world.
Climate change will impact the world:
Answer: C. Disparately — ConceptA passage-based question is answered from the author’s stated relationships, not from outside assumptions. Words such as uniformly and disparately…
- A.
Uniformly
- B.
The developing world less
- C.
Disparately
- D.
The developed world more
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Concept
A passage-based question is answered from the author’s stated relationships, not from outside assumptions.
Words such as uniformly and disparately describe whether an effect is distributed equally or unequally across groups and places.
Application
The passage says the physical impacts will not be evenly distributed: coastal regions, continental interiors, and high latitudes face different effects. It also explains that wealthier countries can adapt more effectively, while countries with fewer resources are more vulnerable. Both geography and adaptive capacity therefore make the impact unequal across the world.
Contrast
Uniformly would mean essentially equal effects across places, which conflicts with the passage’s regional differences.
The developing world less reverses the passage’s point that fewer resources create greater vulnerability.
Disparately captures the combined geographical and economic differences described in the passage.
The developed world more overlooks the greater protective and recovery capacity attributed to wealthier countries.
Result
Thus, the passage states that climate change will impact the world disparately.