Read the following passage and answer the questions.
Conveying bravery and awe, lions have been appropriated since the earliest times as gods and symbols of leadership. They have also been co-opted into the service of commerce and subjected to numerous affronts to their stateliness.
Lions in the Ancient World
To the ancient Mesopotamians, Gilgamesh was a powerful figure who may have been a king. In an epic poem about his reign, he strangled a magical lion with his bare hands. The god Lamassu was shown as a winged lion, while the goddess of love, Inanna-Ishtar, had a lion as one of her symbols.
One of the twelve labours of the Greek hero Heracles (Hercules to the Romans) was to kill the Nemean lion, a creature of incredible ferocity. Its fur was so strong that no knife or spear could pierce it, but Heracles, like Gilgamesh before him, dispatched the beast by strangling it. The Greeks also pictured lions drawing the chariots of their gods and guarding homes.
The ancient Egyptians venerated the lion too. The Sphinx at Giza has the head of a man and the body of a lion. The goddess Sekhmet was shown as a lioness whose task was to destroy the wicked and protect the good.
The Bible tells of Daniel in the lions’ den, and of Samson, who, like Gilgamesh and Heracles, killed a lion with his hands.
The Lion as a Marketing Tool
Manufacturers have shamelessly recruited lions as a sales tool. Well, they’re not going to use snakes, spiders or rats, are they?
The Lion Motor Car Company of Adrian, Michigan, was a short-lived venture (1909–1912) into the growing automobile business. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) has used a roaring lion as its trademark since the 1920s. And C.S. Lewis gave us Aslan, the great lion of his Narnia books.
Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → From ancient myths to modern brands, people have used the lion as a sign of power
The passage opens by saying that lions have been used “as gods and symbols of leadership”.
- The first part gives examples from the ancient world: Mesopotamia, Greece, Egypt and the Bible.
- The second part shows lions used to sell things, such as a car company and the MGM film company.
- So the whole passage shows the lion as a sign of power, from old myths to modern brands.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Lions were worshipped as gods only in the ancient world — Incorrect. Too narrow: This covers only the first part of the passage. It leaves out the whole part on “The Lion as a Marketing Tool”.
Option 2: Ancient heroes proved that men are stronger than lions — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The passage tells of heroes who killed lions. But it never says that men are stronger than lions. These stories are only examples of the lion in myths.
Option 3: Companies have no right to use animals in their trademarks — Incorrect. Not mentioned: A trademark is a sign that a company puts on its goods. The writer makes a joke about companies using lions. The writer never says they have no right to do so.