A clever man built a machine to break a secret code and help end a war. Later, his own country punished him — for loving another man.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is D" — then check.
1 = F (a code) · 2 = H (a machine) · 3 = B (a secret) · 4 = A (a war)
5 = C (a team) · 6 = E (to prove) · 7 = D (a crime) · 8 = G (to forgive)
Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game (2014). Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
It is 1939. Britain is at war with Germany. Germany sends secret orders using a machine called Enigma. Every day, the code changes. A clever mathematician called Alan Turing comes to Bletchley Park to help break the code. Turing is very clever, but he is not good with people.
Turing has an idea: only a machine can beat a machine. His boss does not like the idea and does not want to pay for it. So Turing writes a letter to the Prime Minister, and he gets the money. He also wants a woman called Joan Clarke on his team. She is very clever too, but the other men do not want a woman there.
Turing builds a huge machine. At first, it does not work.
1. What does Germany use to send secret messages, and why is it hard to break?
2. What is Turing's plan, and how does he get the money for it?
1. Germany uses a machine called Enigma; the code changes every day, so it is very hard to break.
2. Turing wants to build a machine to break the code; when his boss says no, he writes to the Prime Minister for money.
The machine tests many, many combinations, but it is too slow. One day, Joan notices something: German soldiers often use the same words in their messages. The team use this idea, and the machine finally breaks the code!
But there is a big problem. If they save every ship and stop every attack, the Germans will know their code is broken. So the team must choose: they cannot save everyone. They must let some bad things happen, to keep the secret safe.
1. What idea helps the machine finally break the code?
2. Why can't the team save everyone, now that they can read the messages?
1. Joan notices that German messages often use the same words, and the team use this to help the machine.
2. If they save everyone, the Germans will know the code is broken and will change it, so the team must let some things happen to keep the secret.
The war ends. The team must destroy the machines and the papers. They must never tell anyone what they did — not even their families.
Some years later, the police find out that Turing loves another man. At this time in Britain, this is a crime. Turing is arrested. He must choose: prison, or medicine that changes his body. He chooses the medicine.
Many years later, in 2013, the government finally says sorry, and gives him an official pardon.
1. What must the team do when the war ends?
2. What happens to Turing a few years later, and why?
1. They must destroy the machines and papers, and never tell anyone about their secret work.
2. The police find out he loves a man, which is a crime at that time; he is arrested and must choose prison or medicine that changes his body.
This story is full of reasons and results — why things happened, and what happened next. Use the past simple for finished actions, and because / so to connect them.
Read the meaning in brackets and complete the sentence.
1. He wrote to the Prime Minister he needed money for the machine. (reason)
2. The machine was too slow, the team needed a new idea. (result)
3. The team could not save everyone, the Germans must not learn the code was broken. (reason)
1. because (gives the reason)
2. so (gives the result)
3. because (gives the reason)
Put the verb into the past simple. Then read it out loud.
1. Turing (build) a huge machine to break the code.
2. The police (find) out about Turing's private life.
3. The government (give) Turing a pardon in 2013.
1. built (past simple of "build")
2. found (past simple of "find")
3. gave (past simple of "give")
Fill each gap with the past simple, because, or so. Read it aloud when you finish.
Turing's idea (seem) strange to his boss, his boss said no. But Turing wrote to the Prime Minister he needed the money.
seemed (past simple) · so (result) · because (reason)
Use because to explain why, and so to say what happened next.
Alan Turing was a real person, and most of this story really happened — but the film also changes some important details.
Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician. Today, people say he was one of the people who started modern computer science. There is even a famous test to check if a computer can "think" like a person — it is called the Turing Test, after him.
Germany really did use a machine called Enigma to make secret codes. But before Turing, Polish mathematicians already found a way to read some Enigma messages, and shared their work with Britain just before the war started. Then Turing and his team built a bigger, faster machine to break the code every single day. Historians think that breaking this code helped end the war two to four years earlier — and saved a huge number of lives.
Turing did not work alone: hundreds, and later thousands, of people worked together at Bletchley Park to break the code. The film also shows Turing working with a spy called John Cairncross, but this is not true — in real life, they did not know each other. What is true, and very sad, is this: in 1952, Turing was arrested because he loved a man, and this was a crime at that time. He chose medicine instead of prison, and he died in 1954. The government only gave him an official pardon in 2013.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of The Imitation Game in your own words. Use these steps to help you: the secret Enigma code → Turing's big machine → Joan's idea about repeated words → the hard choice about who to save → the war ends and the secret stays hidden → Turing is punished years later.
Try to use some key words (code, machine, secret, war, team, prove, crime, forgive) and because / so.
The team could not save everyone, to keep their secret safe. Was this right, or wrong? What would you do?
Talk about a time someone was treated unfairly.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: