Practice English Reading Exercises for B2 – School-based Environmental Activities 4

Exercises:   123456

Reading 1

You are going to read an article about four students sharing their experiences of conducting an energy audit for their school and presenting the money-saving results to the principal.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   admits they originally thought their assigned task would be extremely dull?

2   relied on an impactful physical object to persuade the head teacher?

3   was taken aback by an unseen but massive drain on the school’s resources?

4   felt anxious about how their classmates would respond to their initiatives?

5   notes that the head teacher pledged to invest the savings into renewable energy?

6   had to dedicate time outside of regular school hours to gather the necessary data?

7   found comfort in hard facts when feeling intimidated about speaking to the principal?

8   concentrated primarily on altering the everyday habits of the people in the building?

9   felt physically exhausted by the demands of the inspection process?

10   was relieved that the principal did not dispute the accuracy of their calculations?

Powering Down: Our School’s First Energy Audit

A Leo

When our science teacher suggested conducting an energy audit, I immediately volunteered to investigate the school’s heating infrastructure. I was absolutely staggered to discover that the radiators in the sports hall were running at full capacity throughout the night. It was an invisible, yet massive drain on resources that had completely slipped under the radar! When the time came to pitch our findings to the principal, Mr. Harris, my heart was in my mouth. I’m not a natural public speaker. However, I’d thoroughly double-checked the spreadsheets, so I simply let the undeniable statistics do the talking, which really took the edge off my anxiety. I had firmly braced myself for him to challenge my figures, assuming he’d suspect a group of sixteen-year-olds had got the complex math wrong. To my immense relief, he accepted our conclusions without a single objection, immediately acknowledging the scale of the financial waste.

B Maya

My role in the audit was to look at daily power consumption, specifically the routines of the students and staff. It turned out that hundreds of computer monitors were being left on standby overnight. I wanted to launch a ‘switch it off’ campaign, but I was highly apprehensive about being mocked by my peers for acting like the school police. It can be emotionally exhausting trying to convince teenagers to change their entrenched behaviours. Fortunately, the student body was surprisingly receptive once we explained the environmental impact. During our meeting with the principal, he was particularly struck by the fact that our proposed solutions didn’t require any expensive new technology, just a shift in mindset. He praised our focus on altering everyday actions, noting that empowering the school community to take personal responsibility was a far more sustainable long-term strategy than simply changing lightbulbs.

C Sam

I initially only joined the environmental club because my friends were in it. When I was assigned the task of analysing the school’s electricity bills over the last five years, I was convinced it would be an incredibly tedious chore. Much to my amazement, I found myself fascinated by the patterns hidden within the data; it was like piecing together a massive financial puzzle. To make our presentation to the head teacher more impactful, I decided against a standard digital slideshow. Instead, I brought in a towering stack of textbooks to visually represent the mountain of cash the school was literally burning each year. The sheer visual weight of that prop did the trick perfectly. The head teacher was visibly shocked by the physical representation of the wasted funds. He immediately promised to reallocate a portion of the saved money into our club’s budget for future eco-projects.

D Chloe

Undertaking this audit was no small feat. To get an accurate picture of our wasted electricity, my team had to systematically check every single classroom and office. Because we couldn’t disrupt lessons, this meant staying behind late on Fridays and coming in over the weekends. Pacing up and down four floors of corridors to inspect light switches and drafty windows left me completely physically drained. My legs ached for days! However, the sheer effort paid off during our boardroom pitch. We projected our predicted savings onto the screen, showing how much the school could save in just three years. The principal was so inspired by our dedication that he didn’t just agree to implement our basic recommendations. He went a step further, formally committing to invest those projected savings directly into installing solar panels on the roof next spring.

Reading 2

You are going to read an article about four teenagers reviewing a mandatory eco-literacy workshop at school and how it drastically changed their daily habits at home.

For questions 1-10, choose from the people/sections (A-D). The people/sections may be chosen more than once.

Which person/section

1   admits their original reluctance to participate in the compulsory event?

2   was startled to discover the hidden ecological cost of their digital habits?

3   has adopted a creative approach to renewing items they already possess?

4   successfully persuaded their family members to modify what they buy?

5   highlights the negative consequences of leaving idle devices connected to power?

6   took physical action to resolve a maintenance issue within their home?

7   felt shocked upon learning the truth about the manufacturing of a specific industry?

8   has introduced a new system for managing organic domestic waste?

9   points out that collective, minor adjustments can yield massive environmental benefits?

10   initially assumed their own lifestyle was already sufficiently green?

Waking Up to the Planet: How One Workshop Changed Our Lives

A Liam

When the school announced a compulsory eco-literacy weekend, I honestly rolled my eyes. I was entirely convinced it would be a tedious waste of a perfectly good Saturday. However, the guest speaker’s presentation on global water scarcity genuinely stopped me in my tracks. I had never realised just how much we took clean, running water for granted. The statistics regarding domestic water waste were absolutely staggering. As soon as the workshop concluded and I got home, I immediately grabbed a wrench and fixed a dripping tap in the family bathroom that had been leaking for months. Furthermore, I’ve slashed my shower time in half. My older sister thinks I’m taking it a bit too far, but the workshop highlighted that if every household made these marginal tweaks to their daily routines, the overall conservation of freshwater would be phenomenal. I used to assume leaving devices on standby was our biggest crime, but investigating our water footprint has been a monumental eye-opener.

B Chloe

As someone who used to spend every weekend picking up cheap outfits at the shopping centre, the workshop was a bitter pill to swallow. The facilitator focused entirely on the devastating impacts of fast fashion. Hearing about the immense volume of toxic dyes and water required to manufacture a single cotton t-shirt left me utterly appalled. It completely shattered my illusion that high-street brands were harmless. I realised my shopping habits had to undergo a drastic transformation. Instead of buying new garments, I’ve taught myself how to sew. Now, whenever my jeans get a hole or a jacket looks dated, I upcycle them with embroidery or patchwork, giving my old wardrobe a completely fresh look. It takes much more time than just ordering online, but it’s incredibly rewarding. I even tried to talk my parents into giving up imported strawberries to help the planet, though they weren’t as enthusiastic as I was about making changes!

C Noah

Prior to the seminar, I prided myself on being quite environmentally conscious. I always recycled my plastic bottles and never used plastic straws, so I confidently assumed I was already doing my bit for the planet. However, the session on ‘food miles’ and agricultural emissions proved me entirely wrong. I had no idea that the carbon footprint of our imported groceries was so massive. Armed with this new knowledge, I sat my parents down and successfully talked them into switching to a local farmer’s market for our weekly shop, meaning we now only eat seasonal produce. On top of that, I’ve built a compost bin in our back garden. Rather than throwing potato peels and apple cores into the general rubbish, we now transform them into nutrient-rich soil. My friends initially mocked my new obsession with food waste, but I firmly believe we have a duty to reduce the strain on our landfills.

D Maya

Most teenagers wouldn’t associate scrolling through social media with environmental destruction, and I was certainly no exception. The workshop’s module on our ‘digital footprint’ absolutely blew my mind. It turns out that the enormous data centres required to store our endless streams of emails, photos, and videos consume a terrifying amount of electricity. Who would have thought that holding onto thousands of unread emails was actively harming the environment? Since the course, I’ve relentlessly decluttered my cloud storage and unsubscribed from useless newsletters. Moreover, the instructor drew our attention to ‘vampire energy’. Consequently, I now make a point of entirely unplugging my laptop, television, and game console from the wall socket when they aren’t in use, rather than just switching them off. It’s alarming how much energy these appliances silently draw while seemingly dormant. I used to buy second-hand clothes to feel green, but addressing this invisible energy drain has been far more impactful for me.

Exercises:   123456