Question

Read the excerpt from Churchill’s speech in 1946.
It is the first time he used the phrase “iron curtain.”
Which statement best summarizes what Churchill is saying in this section of his speech?

Greece is the only free country in all of Europe.

The Soviet Union has taken over Central and Eastern Europe.

Europe is now free from the influence of all other nations.
…an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone — Greece with its immortal glories — is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation.

—Winston Churchill

Answer 1

"The Soviet Union has taken over Central and Eastern Europe."

Churchill is saying an "iron curtain" has cut off Central and Eastern Europe, putting those capitals and populations into the Soviet sphere and under increasing control from Moscow, while only Greece (Athens) is free to choose its future.