Long Queues and Big Questions at COP31 Climate Summit
Listen to the story
People at the COP31 climate meeting had a hard morning. They had to wait in long queues before the sun came up. This showed problems with the event's logistics.
COP31 is a big United Nations meeting about climate change. Leaders from many countries come to talk about the planet.
António Guterres is the head of the United Nations. He is called the UN Secretary-General. He said that moving away from fossil fuels must not be a 'taboo' subject. A taboo is something people avoid talking about.
Fossil fuels are things like oil, gas, and coal. Burning them makes the Earth warmer. Guterres said this problem is not impossible to fix. He said it is not an 'intractable' problem.
Brazil is hosting this COP meeting. Brazilian leaders are happy about one thing. There is less deforestation in the Amazon rainforest now. Deforestation means cutting down trees.
But people are asking a question. Can Brazil do more on climate change? The queues show that even small problems can be hard to fix at big meetings.
Vocabulary9 words
- COP31
- a big yearly meeting about climate change
- queues
- lines of people waiting
- logistics
- planning how to organize an event
- climate change
- the Earth getting warmer over time
- Secretary-General
- the top leader of the United Nations
- fossil fuels
- oil, gas, and coal used for energy
- intractable
- very hard or impossible to solve
- deforestation
- cutting down many trees
- Amazon
- a huge rainforest in South America
📚 Ready to use these words in a real conversation?
Practice live with a real tutor on Preply.
Quiz
Answer key
1. Long queues before dawn 2. Moving away from them should not be a taboo topic 3. Deforestation has dropped
✅ Nice work on the quiz!
Keep the momentum going — book a live English lesson with a Preply tutor.
Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
People at the _____ climate meeting had a hard morning.
They had to wait in long _____ before the sun came up.
This showed problems with the event's _____.
António Guterres is the head of the United Nations, called the UN _____.
He said that moving away from _____ must not be a 'taboo' subject.
He said this problem is not an '_____' problem.
There is less _____ in the Amazon rainforest now.
Deforestation means cutting down _____.
The queues show that even small problems can be hard to fix at big _____.
🎓 Enjoyed this story?
Turn today's reading into real speaking practice with a live Preply tutor.
