学进去

During my second year at the city college，I was told that the education department was offering a "free"course, called Thinking Chess, for three credits. I _________the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to _________ a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t _________enough about free credits, news about our _________was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster, which _________ I would be learning from one of the game's _________. I could hardly wait to _________him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this _________was no game for him: he meant business. In his introduction, he made it _________that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to __________the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to __________what we would learn in class to our future professions and, __________, to our lives. I managed to get an A in that __________and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the __________.

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he __________me: “The absolute most important __________that you learn when you play chess is how to make good __________. On every single move you have to __________a situation, process what your opponent(对手）is doing and __________the best move from among all your options.”These words still ring true today in my __________as a journalist.