During my second year at the city college. I was told that the education department was offering a "free" course (课程) called Thinking Chess for three credits (学分). I jumped at the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn't want to 1 a few dollars? More than that, I'd always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren't excited enough about free credits, news about our instructor was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster (大师), which 2 I would be learning from one of the game's best. I could hardly wait to him.
The instructor Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this meet was no game for him. He meant business. In his introduction, he made it job real that our credits would be hard—earned. In order to 3the class, we had to write a paper on how we plan to 4 what we would learn in class to our future professions and, finally to our lives. I managed to get an A in that 5 and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the 6.
Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I'm still putting to use what he 7 me: The most important 8 that you learn when you play chess is how to make good 9. On every single move you have to analyze (分析) a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and evaluate (评估) the best move from among all your choices, these words still ring true today in my 10 as a journalist.
