阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C和D四个选项中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

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 _ 41 _ the idea of taking the class because, after all, who doesn’t want to _ 42 a few dollars? More than that, I’d always wanted to learn chess. And, even if I weren’t _ 43 _ enough about free credits, news about our _ 44 _ was appealing enough to me. He was an international grandmaster, which _ 45 _ I would be learning from one of the game’s _ 46 _ . I could hardly wait to _ 47 _ him.

Maurice Ashley was kind and smart, a former graduate returning to teach, and this _ 48 _ was no game for him: he meant business. In his introduction, he made it _ 49 _ that our credits would be hard-earned. In order to _ 50 _ the class, among other criteria, we had to write a paper on how we plan to _ 51 _ what we would learn in class to our future professions and, _ 52 _ , to our lives. I managed to get an A in that _ 53 _ and learned life lessons that have served me well beyond the _ 54 _ .

Ten years after my chess class with Ashley, I’m still putting to use what he _ 55 _ me: “The absolute most important _ 56 _ that you learn when you play chess is how to make good _ 57 _ . On every single move you have to _ 58 _ a situation, process what your opponent (对手) is doing and _ 59 _ the best move from among all your options.” These words still ring true today in my _ 60 _ as a journalist.