Anyone who knows how to play chess will understand how to write a screenplay for a film. Most chess players stumble from beginning to end. We don’t know much, but we know enough to play. We move without really knowing what’s going to happen further on in the game. Maybe we can see one or two moves ahead, and, if we can, we’re pleased by our uncanny ability to see even that far ahead. Better than the days when we couldn’t see ahead at all – when we were playing blindly. Over time, as we learned more about playing chess, we made a startling revelation: chess depends more upon long-term strategy than upon short-term tactics. Up till then, we’d been happy with a rather short-sighted approach. Suddenly, we became aware of ‘the big picture’. We began to see the game as a whole, not just a series of individual moves. And once we saw the game as a whole, we began to see patterns emerge in the play. Gambits, they call them. And the patterns have names, such as openings, middle games and end games. In chess, as in screenplay writing, the more often you play, the more aware you become of its complexities.
1. According to the writer, how do inexperienced chess players feel?
A. Delighted to be able to finish a game.
B. Encouraged by each improvement.
C. Amazed by how quickly they learned.
D. Pleased to be able to play with confidence.
2. The writer compares chess and screenplay writing in order to………
A. Explain that we learn both by trial and error.
B. Emphasize the fixed nature of both process.
C. Suggest that success depends on attension to details.
D. Demonstrate the importance of having a plan.
3. What does “uncanny” mean?
A. Natural
B. Strange
C. Unable
D. Sudden
4. Which of the following is not used to described an inexperienced chess player?
A. Playing blindly
B. Thinking of chess as a short-term process
C. Seeing how a game opens, goes on and ends
D. Using short-sighted approaches
5. The word “ revelation” is closest in meaning to
A. Exposition
B. Recognition
C. Realization
D. Imagination
