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7 EXTRA EXAM PRACTICE
Name
Read the text and answer the questions that follow.
Secret Writing
I People have always wanted to communicate secretly: children, lovers, diplomats and spies need to send undetectable
messages, so it’s not surprising that many ways of doing this have developed.
II In 2000 BC, few people could read, so sending a written message to another literate person almost guaranteed secrecy.
Later on, attempts at concealment included the use of invisible inks, or, for example, this method used by Ancient Greeks
in about 400 BC: they shaved a slave’s head, tattooed a message on his bare scalp, and sent him to deliver the message
when his hair had grown back. Meanwhile, Ancient Spartans wrote messages on pieces of cloth wrapped around a stick.
The cloth was then unwound and the message could only be read if it was rewrapped on a stick of exactly the same
diameter.
III Later on, people began to experiment with codes, substituting one symbol for another. One early substitution code was
developed by Julius Caesar, who moved each letter three places backwards, turning D into A, E into B, and so on.
According to this code, the word ‘hello’ appears as ‘ebiil’.
IV Eventually, cryptography (meaning secret writing in Greek) included special devices to encode and decode messages.
Other methods used a “key”, a written work known to the sender and receiver but not to others. These keys, however, had
to be carefully guarded from falling into the wrong hands. During World War I, the British recovered code books from
destroyed German submarines and aeroplanes. By World War II, the Germans were coating these books in lead, ensuring
that they would sink rather than be recovered by the enemy. In the same war, the United States Marine Corps used about
500 “code talkers”, Native American Indians who passed on messages and information using languages like Navajo,
which were incomprehensible to Europeans.
V The invention of computers in the 20th century revolutionised cryptology. In the 1970s, the IBM corporation created a
code known as DES. It took 20 years and thousands of people to crack the code! But for now, see if you can crack this:
qeb bka!
1 Choose the correct answer.

1. In about 400 BC ...... .
4 Rewrite the sentences without changing the original
meaning.
a. Greek slaves were required to shave a
1. People experimented with codes, substituting
messenger’s head
one symbol for another.
b. Greek slave’s hair sometimes hid a secret message
People experimented with codes which .................
c. Spartans had to unwrap a cloth to read their
................................................................................ .
messages
2. These keys must be guarded from falling into the
2. The Germans ...... .
wrong hands.
a. rescued their code books from destroyed planes
These keys can’t be allowed ...................................
b. recovered copies of their code books from British
................................................................................ .
submarines
c. preferred their code books to sink rather than fall 5 Find words or expressions in the text that mean the
into British hands following:
2 Decide if the sentences are T (true) or F (false). 1. material (paragraph II) ............................
Find evidence in the text to justify your answers. 2. covering (paragraph IV) ............................
...... 1. Code talkers taught marines to speak their 3. guaranteeing (paragraph IV) ............................
Native American languages. 4. transmitted (paragraph IV) ............................
...................................................................... 5. radically changed (paragraph V) ............................
...... 2. Computers can create complicated codes.
6 Write a composition of 100-150 words. Choose ONE
...................................................................... option.
3 Answer the question. 1. Have you ever used a method of secret
communication? Describe the method and the
What were two of the earliest methods of secret
situation in which it was used.
communication?
.....................................................................................
7 EXTRA EXAM PRACTICE
2. The world would be a better place if people were

always open and honest with each other. Do you
agree or disagree? Give your reasons.

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7 EXTRA EXAM PRACTICE

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

1 Choose the correct answer.

2. The world would be a better place if people were

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