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Information and IdeasMediumMain idea that balances two points

Information and Ideas practice question

The Rosetta Stone is often said to have 'unlocked' Egyptian hieroglyphs, and it did supply the key: the same decree carved in three scripts. But the unlocking took two decades after the stone's discovery, and it rested on a guess — that the signs enclosed in oval rings spelled royal names sound by sound — which could be tested only because those names were already known from the Greek text.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. The stone was essential to decipherment, but decipherment also required years of work and a testable guess.Correct
  2. B. The stone's importance to decipherment has been greatly exaggerated.
  3. C. The Greek text on the stone was harder to read than the hieroglyphs.
  4. D. Only the royal names on the stone were ever deciphered.

Answer: A. The stone was essential to decipherment, but decipherment also required years of work and a testable guess.

The text grants that the stone 'did supply the key' and then adds what else was needed: twenty years and a guess that the Greek made testable. Choice A holds both halves.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The stone's importance to decipherment has been greatly exaggerated.
The text affirms the stone supplied the key; it qualifies the 'unlocked' story rather than dismissing the stone.
C. The Greek text on the stone was harder to read than the hieroglyphs.
The Greek was the readable part — it is what made the guess testable.
D. Only the royal names on the stone were ever deciphered.
The royal names were the starting point for decipherment, not its limit.

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