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1️⃣ Naysayers

Meaning: People who always oppose or doubt something
Explanation: They focus on negatives and discourage new ideas
Daily Use: Ignore the naysayers and follow your plan
Office Use: The team succeeded despite early naysayers

2️⃣ Gimmick

Meaning: A trick or strategy to attract attention
Explanation: Often flashy but not always meaningful
Daily Use: That ad is just a gimmick
Office Use: We need substance, not gimmicks in our pitch

3️⃣ Cynical

Meaning: Believing people act only out of self-interest
Explanation: Distrustful of others’ intentions
Daily Use: He’s cynical about politics
Office Use: A cynical attitude can harm team morale

4️⃣ Didactic

Meaning: Intended to teach, sometimes overly instructive
Explanation: Focused on lessons rather than engagement
Daily Use: The movie felt too didactic
Office Use: Avoid a didactic tone in presentations

5️⃣ Fallacy

Meaning: A mistaken belief or faulty reasoning
Explanation: Logical errors that weaken arguments
Daily Use: That’s a common fallacy
Office Use: The report contains several logical fallacies

It’s not that modern historians of medieval Africa have been ignorant about contacts between Ethiopia and Europe; they just had the power dynamic reversed. The traditional narrative stressed Ethiopia as weak and in trouble in the face of aggression from external forces, so Ethiopia sought military assistance from their fellow Christians to the north. But the real story, buried in plain sight in medieval diplomatic texts, simply had not yet been put together by modern scholars. Recent research pushes scholars of medieval Europe to imagine a much more richly connected medieval world: at the beginning of the so-called Age of Exploration, there is evidence that the kings of Ethiopia were sponsoring their own missions of diplomacy, faith and commerce.

A Medieval texts have documented how strong connections between the Christian communities of Ethiopia and Europe were invaluable in establishing military and trade links between the two civilisations.

B Historians were under the illusion that Ethiopia needed military protection from their neighbours, but in fact the country had close commercial and religious connections with them.

C Medieval texts have been ‘cherry-picked’ to promote a view of Ethiopia as weak and in need of Europe’s military help with aggressive neighbours, but recent studies reveal it was a well-connected and outward-looking culture.

D Medieval historical sources selectively promoted the narrative that powerful European forces were called on to protect weak African civilisations such as Ethiopia, but this is far from reality.

Option 3 is the most appropriate summary because the passage mentions how history was tweaked. Option 3 mentions how Ethiopia was perceived to be weak but in reality, the picture was somewhat different.

Incorrect answers: Option 1 is narrow in scope. Option 2 is close but option 3 is a better answer because it provides a convincing summary of the given passage. Again, option (3) is better than option (4) because option (4) is a little sketchy. Option (3) is the most comprehensive summary.

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