阅读理解 With kings, artists and writers playing chess, you might get the idea that chess is the most civilized game．But you’d be wrong． A Scandinavian manuscript(手稿), 900 years old, tells of how one player, who lost a game, picked up the board and hit his opponent on the head with it．Boards were made of stone in those days． Grandmasters have called it “a blood sport”, “like a fight to the death with broken bottles” and “very dangerous－you have to kill people”． If you agree with the old saying that life is too short for chess, play blitz chess．Five minutes on the clock．Non-players think chess is slow and boring, but blitz is an extremely exciting sport．And as aggressive(进攻性的)as any martial art(武术)．In parks in Russia, where they gather in summer to play blitz, the players don’t just take pieces, they knock them off the board onto the ground．And in the classic game, even world championship players have been known to kick each other under the table． With all this aggression, and the stories of nervous breakdowns among chess players, it’s worth remembering that chess can heal as well as harm．My own favourite chess story is that of John Healy．His autobiography(自传), ?The Grass Arena, was made into a great film by the BBC．Healy was a failed boxer who became the most serious kind of alcoholic(酒鬼)．He became homeless．The bottle nearly killed him．But in prison, he discovered chess, and managed to give up drinking completely．He is now a successful chess player, journalist and writer． Healy is played in the film by the British actor Mark Rylance．It’s the performance of a lifetime－chess makes surprisingly good cinema．There is a moving scene where Healy tries to find the words to describe how his life has changed．“It’s like boxing again．．．but not with fists．．．with the mind．” | 
