📖 The Story

Tiger's Heatwave

Tiger wiped the sweat from her forehead as she stared at the thermometer outside her bedroom window. Thirty-eight degrees Celsius – the hottest day on record for July in her hometown. The thirteen-year-old had never experienced anything like it.

"Mum, why is it so hot?" Tiger asked, finding her mother in the kitchen, ice cubes melting rapidly in her hands.

"It's called a heatwave, love," her mother explained, filling water bottles from the tap. "Scientists say these extreme temperatures are becoming more common because of climate change. The Earth's average temperature has risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 1880s."

Tiger nodded thoughtfully. At school, she'd learned that burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases, which trap heat in the atmosphere like a thick blanket around the planet. "So what can we do to stay cool?" she wondered aloud.

Together, they developed a survival plan. Tiger closed all the curtains to block the sun's rays and created cross-ventilation by opening windows on opposite sides of the house. She filled the bathtub with cool water for her feet and made frozen fruit ice lollies. Most importantly, she stayed hydrated, drinking water every thirty minutes.

By evening, Tiger felt proud of how she'd adapted. She'd also researched climate solutions online – renewable energy, tree planting, and reducing carbon emissions. "If we're going to have more heatwaves," she told her mother, "we need to be prepared and help fix the problem too."

As the temperature finally dropped to a bearable twenty-six degrees Celsius, Tiger made a promise to herself: she would do her part to protect the planet whilst learning to cope with the changing climate.

📝 Part 1: Retrieval Questions

🤔 Part 2: Inference Questions