They couldn’t even tell the time — this uncountable army of believers.
The warriors of God pushed on to the gates of the imperial city of Constantinople, their arrival heralded by a plague of locusts that destroyed the vines but left the wheat untouched. Their leader, an implacable cleric who had appeared from nowhere to great popular acclaim, exhorted his charges to holy war against the infidel with promises of a home in paradise. Disease and malnutrition were rife. Medical care often involved exorcism of the amputation of injured limbs. Torture and other ordeals settled criminal cases.
Few had any learning at all. What education there was back home consisted of memorizing outdated texts under the watchful eyes of hidebound doctors of religion. They had no understanding of basic technology, science, or mathematics. They could not date their most important holy days, nor chart the regular movements of the sun, the moon, and the planets. They knew nothing of papermaking or the use of lenses and mirrors, and they had no inkling of the prince of contemporary scientific instruments — the astrolabe. Natural phenomena, such as an eclipse of the moon or a sudden change in weather, terrified them. They though it was black magic.
The arrival of this fanatical army horrified the locals. Who were these pale-skinned, blue-eyed barbarians, marching under the sign of the cross, and what did they want on Arab shores at the dawn of the twelfth Christian century?
🔗 Texto adaptado de: Lyons, J. The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization. London: Bloomsbury, 2009, p. 9.
135. According to the last paragraph of the text, the local population of the Arab shores was greatly frightened by the presence of the newcomers because nobody knew what their purpose was.
🔎 Gabarito: ERRADO
🧭 1️⃣ Leitura orientada do item
O item exige atenção ao último parágrafo, especialmente à relação entre medo e causa explícita apresentada no texto.
📝 2️⃣ Análise técnica do item
O texto afirma que “The arrival of this fanatical army horrified the locals”, ou seja, o medo decorre da chegada em si e do perfil violento, fanático e desconhecido do grupo.
As perguntas retóricas finais (“Who were these… and what did they want?”) reforçam o estranhamento, mas não indicam que o medo se deva especificamente à ignorância sobre seus objetivos.
O item introduz uma causa não explicitada no texto, caracterizando extrapolação interpretativa.
⚠️ 3️⃣ Armadilhas clássicas da banca
• Inferir causalidade onde há apenas descrição.
• Transformar pergunta retórica em explicação factual.
• Acrescentar motivação psicológica não afirmada no texto.
🧠 4️⃣ Resumo B3GE™ Master
✔ O texto afirma que os locais ficaram horrorizados.
✔ Não explicita que o medo decorreu da ignorância quanto aos objetivos.
✔ O item adiciona causa inexistente no texto.
Gabarito confirmado: ERRADO.