Read the section "Types Of Myths." Select the paragraph from the article that suggests some gods were able to solve their
problems by creating new beings.
(A) Since each group of people developed their own explanations, mythology differs from culture to culture.
But all myths try to answer basic questions, such as: How was the world created? How did life on Earth
begin? Why is there evil in the world?
(B) Myths explain the origins of Earth in many different ways. Many cultures believe that an all-powerful god
created the world. For example, a myth of the Polynesian people tells that the god lo formed the world
out of water and darkness. People living in the cold lands of what is now northern Europe believed that
the mist was created first. According to the ancient Scandinavian tradition, the mist flowed through 12
rivers and froze, filling the emptiness of the world with many layers of ice, which was later melted by a
warm wind. Other cultures, including the Arapaho of North America, as well as civilizations in Egypt and
Japan, thought of humans as descendants of a sun god.
(C) To explain the origin of human beings, an ancient story from India described a being called the Self
When the Self became lonely, it divided into two parts, creating man and woman. Their children became
the human race. Many myths from western Africa tell that the first beings were a pair of twins. The
Sumerians, an ancient Middle Eastern people, believed that the first people came from clay. According
to their myths, the water god told his mother to mold bits of clay into the shapes of people.
(D)
Many cultures also have myths explaining why there is evil in the world. For example, an ancient Greek
myth tells the story of Pandora, the first woman on Earth. She opened a jar and released all kinds of evil
on the world. A great variety of other myths explain the origins of animals, plants and events in nature.