IV. Reading Comprehension
Passage 1 Read the following pasage and choose the BEST answer for each question.
In the remote Amazonian village of Inhube, the moan of the horns means a grueling initiation
is about to begin. Several times a year, the Satere-Mawe Indians hold a painful 11-hour ritual in
which boys as young as 12 must stick their hands into a pair of specially made gloves, each one
infested with a swarm of angry, stinging jungle carnivores—giant tropical bullet ants.
No initiate can be considered a true Indian, a warrior, until he has sworn the gloves not just once,
but 20 times.
Ted, one of the 12-year-old initiates, says: “people say that I don’t have the courage to do it. I
have and I will do it.” The men face the prospect of getting strung even before the ritual starts when
they head off to capture the ants. A stab from this predator’s abdominal spear is 30 times worse than
a bee sting.
The tribe’s medicine men drug the ants by soaking them in an herbal solution. But their stupor
will only last long enough for them to be thrust, one by one, stinger first, into the gloves. According
to the Satere-Mawe legend, these menaces provide the perfect test of one’s worthiness to take on
adult roles.
In less than an hour, the ants are awake. Trapped in the woven mitt, they writhe in angry
desperation. They’re ready to be inserted into the ceremonial gloves. One by one, each young man
steps up to the sacred pole and submits his hands to the swarm. Their agony is unmistakable. To
help distract them, the medicine man leads them in a dance around the pole.
To be seen as a true tribal warrior, each must endure the ants’ punishment for more than ten
minutes. With each sting, the bullet ants’ neurotoxic venom attacks the nerves, causing paralysis
and terrible pain, and this is only the beginning. Once the gloves are off, the stinging and burning
will only grow more excruciating. Now, after watching the others suffer, Ted’s moment of truth has
arrived.
Unfazed, he keeps dancing while all around him succumb to the poison. Slowly, the neurotoxic
venom is turning their hands into swollen, simmering, paralyzed stumps. Finally, the gloves come
off and Ted remains standing. Ted says: My body feels like a motor that’s heating up. If you throw
water here, a lot of smoke will come out. It takes 24 hours for the toxins to dissipate completely. As the chief sees it, the ritual not only
marks the initiate’s entrance into adulthood, it makes them better men. Chief says: “If you live your
life without suffering anything or without any kind of effort, it won’t be worth anything to you.”
Despite his long hours of agony, Ted has promised the chief he will wear the gloves 19 more times,
until he becomes a true adult. 【題組】44. What textual evidence hints at the author’s viewpoint regarding the initiation ritual?
(A) The passage portrays the initiation ritual as arduous and distressing.
(B) The passage suggests that the initiation ritual is unnecessary and cruel.
(C) The passage does not provide any evidence of the author’s viewpoint.
(D) The passage portrays the initiation ritual in a positive and celebratory light.
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