Multiple choice

According to the author “An air of mystery surrounds the existence of this little creature”. Which of the following supports this view expressed by the author?

Directions: Read the following passage to answer the given question.

The black ant is indisputably one of the smallest visible insects on the earth. Except with the aid of a very powerful microscope, it is difficult, if not impossible, to locate the eyes, the mouth, the nostrils (if it ever has any) or any other part of its body. An air of mystery surrounds the existence of this little creature.

Have you ever taken time off your programme to watch these ants move in a row? What gives them the sense of direction, we do not know. Indeed, whoever sends them on an errand and how they even know the destination and the type of errand to run after are stories yet to be told. But they are an extremely well-organised lot.

Certainly, there are no defined routes for them on walls or trees, yet they move in an orderly manner, almost in a straight line. The beautiful thing about these insects is that, even when their line of movement is disorganized, they soon regroup and connect themselves again end to end. If in the process, one of them is killed, they quickly recognize that fact from their various positions. Then, one sees them run­ning helter-skelter with a seeming insistence on getting at the comrade to confirm its death.

When this has been done, some of them run zigzag at a tremendous speed to alert the others on the route. Soon, they disappear completely. Later, as if everything were over and forgotten, they reappear and .form a new route and continue their movement transporting food or going on one errand or the other as before. Bring your ears close to them and you hear nothing and you wonder what their means of communi­cation could be.
Perhaps, most surprising is their high sense of under­standing the weather and the climate. They are just like men in this area. They know when it is the rainy season and when the dry season comes. In fact, it is true to say that they prepare better for the future than man.

During the dry season, they file out to different places ­gathering food which they store underground. At the slightest sign of the approach of the rainy season, they all get into the hole and seal it up. Surprisingly, they re-emerge when the dry season sets in. Who tells them that the dry season has come, we do not know. You can now see the sense in the injunction, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, learn her ways and be wise."

  1. The black ant is one of the smallest visible insects on earth.

  2. Black ants always move in a row.

  3. Black ants are an extremely well-organised lot.

  4. Nobody knows what gives the black ants their sense of direction.

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
D Correct answer
Explanation

Because we do not know what gives the ants their sense of direction, it makes them mysterious. Whatever we cannot understand becomes a mystery for us.