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עמוד:45
To my surprise , he laughed and said , "Nobody . The incident * was caused by my mistake . I left a machine in action with nothing to do . " Putting on my coat , I replied , "I'm going to wish you good night . I hope that the machine will behave better the next time you need to stop it . " On that note , I left the house . It was dark and raining . I could still see light coming from Moxon ' s house . Clearly , he had returned to work after my visit . I kept thinking about some of his rather strange ideas and soon found myself back at Moxon ' s door . I knocked loudly several times but no one answered . Part 2 Quietly , I opened the door . A single candle lit the room . In the dark , it looked like Moxon and another person were sitting at a small table and playing chess . I noticed that Moxon seemed more interested in his opponent than in the game . Moxon ' s face was white and his eyes shone like diamonds . His opponent moved his chess pieces with his long , right hand . His moves were slow and mechanical . There was something strange about it all . Suddenly , it came to me . The opponent was a machine —an automaton * chess player ! I was about to leave when something happened . I saw the thing move its huge shoulders , as if it were upset . The movement was so natural —so human — that it surprised me . Suddenly , it hit the table with its hand . Moxon seemed even more surprised than I . Moxon moved a piece on the board and said , "Checkmate !" 129 5 . Why is the narrator worried ? 6 . Is Moxon worried ? How do we know ? 7 . Why do you think the narrator returns to Moxon ' s house ? 8 . What is strange about Moxon ' s opponent ? 9 . Who wins the game of chess ? * incident — something that happened . * automaton —a robot . I saw the thing move its huge shoulders .
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