Question

read the excerpt from the dark game: true spy stories from invisible ink to cia moles.
there are theories as to why the soviets did not \discover\ the tunnel sooner. one likely answer is that they waited until blake was reassigned by mi6 to london in order to protect him from being found out. since blake knew about the tunnel from the first day of its planning and was in berlin while the tunnel was being dug, fingers would soon point to him as a soviet mole. the kgb did not want to lose blake. some historians feel that the kgb waited because they actually wanted the americans to hear their transmissions, as a way to let it be known that russia had no intention of invading germany and going to war with the u.s.
on balance, however, some valuable information was gathered from the tapped conversations. the u.s. learned, for example, a great deal about the soviet
which sentence best states the controlling idea of the passage?
○ blake was a ruthless spy who ruined the allied efforts to tap soviet wires beneath the ground in berlin.
○ the soviets knew about the allied plan to tap wires and spy, but they did not stop the effort.
○ the united states learned valuable information from the wire taps that allowed them to defeat the soviets.
○ the wire taps were never a secret, but they helped the united states gain military intelligence

Explanation:

To find the controlling idea, we analyze each option:

• Option 1 focuses on Blake's reassignment, not the main idea of the passage.
• Option 2 is about the Soviets' knowledge and inaction, but the passage also includes the US gaining info and Soviet intentions.
• Option 3 claims the US defeated the Soviets, which is not supported by the passage (it says "some valuable information" was gathered, not defeat).
• Option 4: The passage states the Soviets may have let the US tap wires to show no invasion intent, and the US gained military intelligence. This covers the key points of the passage.

Answer:

B. The Soviets knew about the Allied plan to tap wires and spy, but they did not stop the effort. (Wait, no, re - evaluating: The correct option should be the one that encompasses the main ideas. Let's re - check. The passage has two main parts: theories on why Soviets didn't discover the tunnel (to protect Blake or to let US hear transmissions to show no war intent) and that US gained valuable info. Option 4 says "The wire taps were never a secret, but they helped the United States gain military intelligence" which aligns with the passage's points. So the correct answer is the option with text "The wire taps were never a secret, but they helped the United States gain military intelligence" (the fourth option). So the answer is the option: The wire taps were never a secret, but they helped the United States gain military intelligence.