English Language · Reading Comprehension

What is the correct inference drawn from the passage? Passage: During long, windless summers, cities often become several degrees hotter than their surrounding countryside. This contrast, commonly called the urban heat island, arises from dark roofs and roads that store daytime heat, scarce tree cover that limits shade and evaporation, and waste heat from traffic and cooling systems. A heatwave magnifies these effects: nights stay unusually warm, preventing the body from recovering; power demand for air-conditioning surges just as transformers and substations are stressed; and outdoor workers face longer periods of unsafe exposure. Yet heat is not merely a meteorological spike; it is a social gradient. Low-income neighbourhoods with fewer trees, older housing, and crowded rentals experience higher indoor temperatures and larger medical risks. Even when the forecast is the same across a city, outcomes diverge with building materials, floor plans, and access to cooling. Public health data repeatedly show that excess mortality during heatwaves clusters where information, shade, and reliable electricity are scarce. Forecasts help planners stage responses, but uncertainty remains. A slight shift in wind patterns or cloud cover can delay the peak or raise night-time minima. Early warnings must balance clarity with credibility: if alerts are issued too often, people ignore them; if too late, clinics and shelters scramble. Meanwhile, measures that sound simple—cool roofs, reflective pavements, shade trees, water misters—require sequencing: roofs before roads in dense blocks, trees where roots will not rupture pipes, and misting where humidity will not worsen nighttime heat. The goal is not to conquer summer but to co-exist with it. Cities that publish neighbourhood heat maps, schedule utility maintenance before peak months, run heat-health hotlines, and open cooling centres near transit reduce harm. Insurance that triggers when temperatures exceed thresholds, staggered work hours for outdoor labour, and building codes that incentivize ventilation and insulation all shift risk. Over time, the most durable protection is unglamorous: keeping data open, maintenance routine, and shade within walking distance.