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Comprehension : (From 171 to 180) Read the passage given below and answer the following question based on it. The Bad al Manded is a 20-mile-wide, 70-mile long strait between the Horn of Africa and the southern trip of the Arabian Peninsula that forms the southern entrance to the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden, and the Indian Ocean beyond. The countries of Eritrea and Djibouti border it to the west, Yemen lies on its eastern edge. An island called Perim (also known as Mayyun) dominates the narrowest part of the Bab al Manded on the Yemeni side, and the scattered Seven Brothers Islands extend from Djibouti a few miles farther south. The name Bab al Manded means “Gate of Tears” or “Gate of Grief” in Arabic, from “bab” meaning “gate” and “mandeb” (of “mandab”) meaning “lamentation.” Its name appears to refer to the perils of navigating the narrow waterway, which is rife with crosscurrents, unpredictable winds, reefs, and shoals. Many ships in past centuries and millennia wrecked in the Bab al Manded, and modern ships also face the dangers of navel mines from bygone conflicts. The “Gate of Grief” gained new global importance after 1869, however, with the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt, which joined the Gulf of Suez in the northwest of the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The canal led to a dramatic increase in shipping in the Red Sea and through the Bab al Mandeb, and it soon became the preferred shipping route between Europe and Asia. Identify the tone of the given passage.

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