المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة علي أبو سعيد

1 On a cold spring afternoon, while walking home from school, I detoured through the playground
at the end of the alley. I saw a group of old men, two seated across a folding table playing a
game of chess, others smoking pipes, eating peanuts, and watching. I ran home and grabbed
Vincent’s chess set, which was bound in a cardboard box with rubber bands, I also carefully
selected two prized rolls of life savers. I came back to the park and approached a man who was
observing the game.
2 “Want to play?” I asked him. His face widened with surprise and he grinned as he looked at the
box under my arm. “Little sister, been a long time since I play with dolls,” he said, smiling
benevolently. I quickly put the box down next to him on the bench and displayed my retort.
3 Lau Po, as he allowed me to call him, turned out to be a much better player than my brothers. I
lost many games and many life savers. But over the weeks, with each diminishing role of
candies, I added new secrets. Lau Po gave me the names. The humble servant who kills the king
and more.
4 there were also the fine points of chess etiquette. Keep captured men in neat rows, as welltended
prisoners. Never announce “Check” with vanity, lest someone with an unseen sword slit
your throat. By the end of the summer, Lau Po had taught me all he knew, and I had become a
better chess player.
5 a small weekend crowd of Chinese people and tourists would gather as I played and defeated
my opponents one by one. My mother would join crowds during these outdoors exhibition
games. She sat proudly on that bench, telling my admirers with proper Chinese humility, “is
luck”.
6 A man who watched me play in the park suggested that my mother allow me to play in local
chess tournaments. My mother smiled graciously, an answer that meant nothing. I desperately
wanted to go, but I bit back my tongue. I know she would not let me play among strangers. So
as we walked home I said in a small voice that I didn’t want to play in the local tournament.
They would have American rules. If I lost, I would bring shame on my family.
7 During my first tournament, my mother sat with me in the front row as I waited for my turn. I
frequently bounced my legs to unstick them from the cold metal seat of the folding chair. When
my name was called, I leapt up. My mother unwrapped something in her lap. It was her chang,
a small tablet of red jade which held the sun’s fire. “is luck,” she whispered, and tucked it into
my dress pocket. I turned to my opponent, a fifteen-year-old boy from Oakland.
8 As I began to play, the boy disappeared, the color ran out of the room, and I saw only my white
pieces and his black ones waiting on the other side. “Blow from the South,” it murmured. “The
wind leaves no trail.” I saw a clear path, the traps to avoid. The wind blew stronger. “Throw sand
from the East to distract him. “Check,” I said.

1- When the boy detoured through the playground at the end of the ally, he saw a couple of ……..
:
a. Old men
b. young boys
c. old women
d. children