People have speculated for centuries about a future without work. Today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again (1)_____ that technology is replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by (2)_____. A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.

    A different and not mutually exclusive (3)_____ holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one (4)_____ by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives (5)_____, people will simply become lazy and depressed. (6)_____, today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for (7)_____ Americans. Also, some research suggests that the (8)_____ for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addiction (9)_____ poorly-educated, middle-aged people is a shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many (10)_____ the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.

    But it doesn’t (11)_____ follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the (12)_____ of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the (13)_____ of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could (14)_____ strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the (15)_____ of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a waste of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway.

    These days, because leisure time is relatively (16)_____ for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional (17)_____ of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel (18)_____,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”—perhaps different enough to throw himself (19)_____ a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for (20)_____ matters.

答案精析：文章首句指出，几百年来，人们一直猜测未来会没有工作；之后提及，现在也一样，学者、作家、激进人士再一次 技术会取代人类，由此可知此处应是对未来的预测，并且内容为负面的，即会对人类产生不利的影响，动作的发出者是学者等人，他们应该是想提醒人们这种不利的影响，所以此空应填入一个和“提醒，警示”意思相近的词。因此选择C项。

错项排除：A项boasting指“吹嘘；炫耀”，其后接的内容应为正面、积极的信息，空格后为负面信息，故排除。从Today is no different 和空前的once again可知，本句和上一句表达意思一致，即人类会没有工作，因而B选项“否认”与原文含义相悖，故排除。C项ensuring意为“确保”，表达“肯定”的语气，而空格后的宾语从句的语境为“推测”，因此排除C项。