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：空格处填入名词，作counterbalance的宾语，此处意为“用空闲时间抵消工作中的脑力和情感______”。空闲时间显然应该是用来放松的，能与之产生相反的作用只能是“工作上有关脑力和情感的消耗”。A项意为“要求；需求”，填入文中表示工作时需要付出脑力和情感的要求，符合语义。

错项排除：B项standards意为“标准”，工作的标准是固定的，不需要平衡或抵消，故排除B项。C项qualities意为“质量”，填入空中指工作质量，不符合文意，故排除。D项threats意为“威胁”，填入空格中指工作对人构成的威胁，不符合逻辑，故排除D项。

长难句分析：These days, because leisure time is relatively scarce for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional demands of their jobs.

本句为复合句，主句主语为people，谓语动词为use，宾语为free time，动词不定式to counterbalance…作目的状语，其中because引导原因状语从句。

句意为：现在，对于大多数有工作的人来说，休闲时间很少，人们通常利用空闲时间平衡工作中的脑力和情感的需要。