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 What education there was back home consisted of memorizing outdated texts under the watchful eyes of hidebound doctors of religion.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.
136. According to the text, as a consequence of the arrival of the warriors, the vines mentioned in the second paragraph were attacked by a widespread plant disease.
🔎 Gabarito: ERRADO
🧭 1️⃣ Leitura orientada do item
O item exige leitura precisa do segundo parágrafo, especialmente da expressão que descreve o evento associado à chegada dos guerreiros.
📝 2️⃣ Análise técnica do item
O texto afirma que a chegada foi “heralded by a plague of locusts”, ou seja, uma praga de gafanhotos.
Gafanhotos são insetos, não agentes de doença vegetal.
A alternativa substitui indevidamente plague of locusts por widespread plant disease, alterando o sentido original do texto.
⚠️ 3️⃣ Armadilhas clássicas da banca
• Confundir plague (praga) com doença.
• Ignorar o complemento explícito of locusts.
• Parafrasear com mudança semântica relevante.
🧠 4️⃣ Resumo B3GE™ Master
✔ O texto fala em praga de gafanhotos.
✔ Não há menção a doença vegetal.
✔ O item altera o referente semântico.
Gabarito confirmado: ERRADO.