Question

Read the excerpt from Gilgamesh: A New English Version. At four hundred miles they stopped to eat, at a thousand miles they pitched their camp. They had traveled for just three days and nights, a six weeks’ journey for ordinary men. Which statement best paraphrases these sentences from the text? The men are able to walk four hundred miles before stopping to eat and one thousand miles before stopping to rest. Ordinary men would need less time if they were to embark on a journey of similar length and difficulty. The men are able to travel in three days and nights a distance that would take ordinary men six weeks. Ordinary men would never be able to walk one thousand miles before stopping to eat or to pitch a camp.

Answer 1

The statement that best paraphrases these sentences from the text is "The men are able to travel in three days and nights a distance that would take ordinary men six weeks".

Gilgamesh: A New English Version was written by Stephen Mitchell and it is inspired in the story of Gilgamesh, a historical king that ruled an ancient city-state known as Uruk. He is also the main character of the famous poem Epic of Gilgamesh, which focuses on the hero and on his six-day journey to the Cedar Forest with Enkidu. In this excerpt from Gilgamesh: A New English Version the author contrasts the men's ability to travel long distances in a short time with the ordinary men's lack of ability to do this.