Thanks for the question! Charlene says that microbes become less active when a region’s temperature drops below normal. Olaf then tries to counter Charlene’s argument by bringing up bacteria in the Arctic and subtropical microbes, saying that they eat oil at nearly the same rate. What likely happened here? Charlene is talking about temperatures being different from what they’re supposed to be in a given region, whereas Olaf is comparing them all to some “normal†number (maybe the average global temperature). Thus, Olaf seems to be misinterpreting the word “normal.†The word “active,†however, is not misinterpreted. Charlene seems to be interpreting “active†as having to do with metabolizing pollutants, based on her first sentence and the context of environmental cleanup. Olaf, too, seems to understand this, talking about microbes eating oil and digesting petroleum pollutants. Thus, the two seem to understand the microbes' being "active" in at least roughly the same manner. Hope this helps!
