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9 Spot on language Avoiding repetition a) Read the article below and highlight all repetitions it contains. Europeans think climate change is worse than financial turmoil 1 Europeans think that dangers of climate change are a more serious problem than the current financial problems, says a new poll. The Eurobarometer poll says that the majority of the people in the European Union think global warming is one of the world’s most serious problems, with one-fifth saying it is the single most serious problem. Overall, people said climate change was the second most serious problem facing the world, after poverty. Connie Hedegaard, European climate commissioner, said, “This is encouraging news. The survey shows that the people of Europe think that serious economic problems are not the only ones we face. A clear majority of people thinks their politicians and business leaders should do something about the serious climate problem now.” The number of people thinking climate change is a very serious problem has risen slightly, from 64% when the poll was last done in 2009, to 68% this year. When asked to rank the seriousness of the problem, people put it at 7.4 out of 10, compared with a score of 7.1 out of 10 two years ago. People also said there were economic benefits to doing something about climate change, with 8 out of 10 people saying that doing something about the problem would provide an economic boost and create jobs. Two years ago the number was just under two-thirds. There was also wide support for moving taxation to penalise greenhouse gas emissions and encourage energy efficiency, with an average of 68% of people across the EU in favour of such a move. However, there was less enthusiasm for people taking personal responsibility for doing something about climate change. Only one in five said they took personal responsibility, with more people saying it was the responsibility of national governments, EU authorities and businesses. Despite this, most people said they had taken action to do something about climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the previous six months. For the greatest number, however, that action was recycling household waste, which ranks fairly low on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Fiona Harvey, The Guardian ; adapted) b) Arrange the words you have highlighted in a chart and find as many synonyms as you can. Repetition Synonyms think assume, believe, expect, presume, suppose, suspect, … … … c) Now rewrite the paragraph that you think needs the most improvement. Use some of the synonyms you have collected to avoid repetition. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 108 Ideals and reality Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv