江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(58)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(89)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（89）含答案解析【题文】The changes facing fast-food companiesFast food was once thought to be recession-proof. When consumers need to cut spending, cheap meals like Big Macs and Whoppers become even more attractive. As a result, fast-food chains have survived the recession better than their more expensive competitors. In 2009 sales at full-service restaurants in America fell by more than 6%, but total sales remained about the same at fast-food chains. In some markets, such as Japan, France and Britain, total spending on fast food increased.But in this ongoing recession(萧条), which is more severe, not all fast-food companies have been as fortunate. Many, such as Burger King, have seen sales fall. In the recession, while some people trade down to fast food, many others eat at home more frequently to save money. Smaller fast-food chains in America, such as Jack in the Box and Carl’s Jr., have been hit particularly hard in this downturn because they cut back spending on advertising.In face of such challenges, some fast-food companies have sacrificed their own profits by trying to give customers better value. During the recession companies set prices low, hoping to tempt more customers through the door. But in many cases that strategy doesn’t work. Some companies are rethinking their strategies. KFC has launched a chicken sandwich that costs around $5 to attract consumers away from $1 specials.Companies are also trying to get customers to buy new and more items, including drinks. McDonald’s started sell ing better coffee as a challenge to Starbucks. Its “McCafe” line now accounts for an estimated 6% of sales in America. As fast-food companies shift from “super size” to “more buys”, they need to keep customer traffic high throughout the day. Many see break fast as a big opportunity, and not just for fatty food. McDonald’s has started selling porridge in America, because the profits can be high.But what about those growing waistlines? So far, fast-food firms have cleverly avoided government regulation. By providing options like salads and low-calorie sandwiches, they have at least given the impression of doing something about helping to fight obesity(肥胖). These offerings don’t necessarily lead to profit loss, as they can broaden the appeal of stores to groups of diners that include some people who don’t want to eat a burger.But calls for tougher government regulation never wear down. This year Congress passed America’s health-reform bill, which requires restaurant chains with 20 or more stores to put the calorie-content of items they serve to the menu. And the recent proposal by a county in California to ban McDonald’s from including toys in its high-calorie “Happy Meals”, because law makers believe it attracts children to unhealthy food, suggests that fast-food companies will have to continue trying something new.The changes facing fast-food companies【答案】51. survivors/competitors/businesses/companies52. appeals 53. instead 54. decreased/reduced/less55. Strategies/Measures/Approaches/Solutions/Ways56. high/higher 57. added 58. profitable 59. healthy/healthier60. creative/innovative/flexible/adaptable【解析】本文是一篇说明文，介绍了快餐公司在经济衰退中面临的挑战以及他们所采取的对策，同时指出随着更严格的食品法的实施，快餐公司应变得更有创造性。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（98）含答案解析
江苏⾼考英语百⽇训练之任务型阅读（98）含答案解析江苏⾼考英语百⽇训练之任务型阅读（98）含答案解析【题⽂】请认真阅读下⾯短⽂，并根据所读内容在⽂章后表格中的空格⾥填⼊⼀个最恰当的单词。
注意:每个空格只填1个单词。
Pretending you're someone else can make you creativeOne great irony(讽刺) about our collective fascination with creativity is that we tend to frame it in uncreative ways. That is to say, most of us marry creativity to our concept of self: We are either “creative” people or we aren't，without much of a middle ground.Pillay, a tech businessman and Harvard professor has spent a good part of his career destroying these ideas. Pillay believes that the key to unlocking your creative potential is to dismiss the conventional advice that urges you to “believe i n yourself”. In fact, you should do the exact opposite: believe you are someone else.In a recent column for Harvard Business Review, Pillay pointed to a 2016 study showing the impact of stereotypes(刻板印象)on one's behavior. The authors, education psychologists Denis Dumas and Kevin Dunbar, divided their college-student subjects into three categories, instructing the members of on e group to think of themselves as “eccentric(古怪的) poets” and the members of another to imagine they were “rigid librarians”(people in the third category, the control group, were left alone for this part). The researchers then presented participants with 10 ordinary objects，including a fork, a carrot, and a pair of pants, and asked them to come up with as many different uses as possible for each one. Those who were asked to imagine themselves as “eccentric poets” came up with the widest range of ideas for th e objects, while those in the “rigid librarian”group had the fewest. Meanwhile, the researchers found only small differences in students' creativity level s across academic majors—in fact, the physics majors inhabiting(寄⽣) the personas(伪装的外表) of “eccentric poets” came up with more ideas than the art majors did.These results, write Dumas and Dunbar, suggest that creativity is not an individual quality, but a “malleable(可塑的) product of context and perspective.” Everyone can be creative, as long as they feel like creative people.Pillay's work takes this a step further: He argues that identifying yourself with creativity is less powerful than the creative act of imagining you're somebody else. This exercise, which he calls “psychological halloweenism”，refers to the conscious action of inhabiting another persona—an inner costuming of the self. It works because it is an act of “conscious unfocus”，a way of positively stimulating the default mode(默认模式) network, a collection of brain regions that spring into action when you're not focused on a specific task or thought.Most of us spend too much time worrying about two things: How successful/unsuccessful we are, and how little we're focusing on the task at hand. The former feeds the latter—an unfocused person is an unsuccessful one, we believe. Thus, we force ourselves into quiet areas, buy noise-canceling headphones, and hate ourselves for taking breaks.What makes Pillay's argument stand out is its healthy, forgiving realism: According to him, most people spend nearly half of their days in a state of “unfocus”. This doesn't make us lazy people—it makes us human. The idea behind psychological halloweenism is: What if we stopped judging ourselves for our mental down time, and instead started using it? Putting this new idea on daydreaming means addressing two problems at once: You're making yourself more creative, and you're giving yourself permission to do something you'd otherwise feel guilty about. Imagining yourself in a new situation, or an entirely new identity, never felt so productive.Title: Pretending you're someone else can make you creative【答案】71. fascinated/impressed 72. Contrary 73. worked/acted/served/functioned 74. given 75. creativity 76.individual/personal 77. positively 78. subscribes 79. realistic/practical 80. forgive【解析】本⽂是⼀篇说明⽂，创造性是促进社会进步的重要品质，哈佛⼤学教授Pillay认为我们要摈弃传统观念，要把⾃⼰想象成别⼈。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(80)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（80）含答案解析【题文】Australia is becoming an increasingly lonely place, so much so that one party is turning it into an election issue. Social isolation affects one in ten Australians, while one in six experience periods of emotional loneliness. As the Australian population gets older, rates of social isolation are expected to increase.In Victoria, one political party thinks the problem is so severe it requires government involvement with it. Fiona Patten, the upper house MP, has proposed that Victoria introduce a minister for loneliness to work across health, infrastructure, justice and communities portfolios, and handle what experts say is becoming a growing health problem.Scarce public transport options, a lack of support for people with disabilities to engage in community events and satellite suburbs that force long commutes and leave little time for socialisation have all been identified as possible structural triggers. “We know that everyone is at risk of loneliness in periods of life transition,” says Tegan Cruwys, a psychological research fellow at Australian National University. “Whether that’s moving to university, becoming a mum, retiring from the workforce, changing jobs, moving cities. If you were someone who experienced loneliness during life transitions, that has less to do with you and much more to do with the world in which you are living.”Kevin O’Neill is 56 and divorced in his early 40s. He says the transition from living with a wife and kids to living alone was tough. Things i mproved when he moved back to Keilor in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and reconnected with friends he grew up with.Avril Hannah-Jones, a Uniting Church minister, is also considering the risks associated with that transition. “At the moment the time I spend alone is by choice, and is a relaxation from a very people-oriented job,” she says. “Maybe in retirement, if being alone is no longer by choice, I’ll feel more lonely.”Brook says retirees can protect against the health risks of loneliness by joining one or two community groups or volunteer communities. “If you’re 65 and you retire and you just sort of potter around the house … your chances of dying within six years are 12% –that’s an early death,” she says. “If you retire at 65 and you join one interest group choir, knitting, woodworking, men’s shed, anything, your chances of dying in that six years has reduced by half.”The risk of an early death decreases with every group or meaningful activity you join. “I think that’s a really profoundly simple but p rofoundly powerful message of optimism about this issue.” Cruwys says the social risk of retirement should be discussed and planned for as openly as the financial risks. There is a demonstrated connection between being financially strained, such as living on welfare or the pension, and an increased sense of isolation. “Staying connected costs money, so more financial aids should be provided, ” she says.【答案】71. proportion/percentage72. aging 73. severity/seriousness74. transport75. oneself76. socially77. Solutions78. connecting79. extend/lengthen80. reduce/lower/decrease【解析】这是一篇议论文。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(86)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（86）含答案解析【题文】It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is a less obvious kind of social upheaval（剧变）underway that is fast changing both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid growth in urbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half the world’s population was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, the process of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come—with an enormous impact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change.As Karen Seto, the lead author of the paper, points out, the wave of urbanization isn’t just about the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environments themselves becoming bigger to provide enough room for all those people. The rapid expansion of urban areas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urban areas.Humans are the ultimate invasive species-when they move into new territory, they often displace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities—especially in the dense tropical forests-carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well. It’s true that as people in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shift may reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This is especially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and burn forests each growing season to clear space for farming. But the real difference is that in developing nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanying increase in income—and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food and energy, which in turn causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to eat and enjoying the safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing-but it does carry an environmental price.The urbanization wave ca n’t be stopped—and it shouldn’t be. But Seto’s paper does underscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we can reduce urbanization’s impacts on the environment “There’s an enormous opportunity here, and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize,” says Seto. “One thing that's clear is that we can’t build cities he way we have over the last couple of hundred years. The scale of this transition won’t allow that.” We’re headed towards an urban planet no matter what, but whether it becomes heaven or hell is up to us.【答案】66. situation67. speeding68. migrate/move69. accommodate70. Consequence/Outcome71. influenced/impacted/affected72. Drive/Force73. way 74. Consume75. change/alter【解析】【分析】本文属于说明文，讲述城市化是一个不可逆转的历史进程，但是都是以破坏环境为代价的，因此我们必须要转变发展城市的观念，减少对环境的破坏。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(48)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（48）含答案解析【题文】If you apply for a job position with a foreign company, chances are you will be asked to provide an English cover letter along with your resume.But what exactly is a cover letter? How long should it be? And most importantly, what should you write about? A cover letter, or motivation letter, is almost a standard requirement when applying for international jobs. In brief, it is a letter introducing yourself as a person and explaining why you are applying for the position. But there is more to writing a good cover letter.Usually a cover letter should be one page in length, including the sender’s and the recipient’s address, which should be placed at the top of the page. Under this, write a short header in bold print to inform the reader what the letter is about. For example, “Internship opportunity at Haier Group”. If you are sending an e-mail, put this information in the subject box. Next, address the employer by name if you know the contact person. Otherwise it is acceptable to use “Dear Hiring Manager”.In the first paragraph you should then say what position you are applying for and how you found out about it. In the next few paragraphs explain in detail why you believe yourself to be a suitable candidate for the position. In the final paragraph, express your enthusiasm for the position and say that you look forward to a response. Also offer to provide further information on request.There are some tips for you to follow.The aim of the cover letter is to encourage the reader to look at your resume, so be confident but try to avoid repeating the same information that is already in your resume.It is very important to tailor your cover letter to the position you are applying for. Read through the job description carefully and explain why you meet its requirements. It is best to provide concrete examples of where you learnt the skills necessary for the job, so include some information from your work experience and studies.Don’t lie, as HR managers can easily assess whether you a re saying the truth or not. Also, remember that if you are invited for an interview, you will most likely be asked questions about your previous experience, so think of good examples that demonstrate your skills, such as teamwork or problem solving. This is where you can really stand out from other applicants.Writing a convincing cover letter takes a lot of time and effort, but don’t think you can cut corners by writing just one letter and sending it to different employers. The first thing HR managers will pay attention to is whether you have thoroughly researched the company. If they receive a generic letter it will probably end up in the dustbin.Ask your parents, friends or your university’s career center to read through your cover letter, and make sure there are no spelling mistakes. You can look at samples of cover letters on the Internet for reference, but do not copy them.Title: Writing a Cover letter to Impress【答案】71. applying 72. written 73. length 74. include75. fit / suitable 76. repeating 77. lie / cheat / fool78. difficulty 79. thrown / turned 80. consult【解析】本文是一篇说明文，介绍了如何让你的求职信给人留下深刻的印象的几点建议。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(51)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（51）含答案解析【题文】Do you know the look of wonder and joy that children get on their face when they listen to someone reading them a story? Schools across the nation are bringing in volunteers to guide children in this very way. If you simply enjoy spending time with children, being a reading volunteer can be a great way to help support the upcoming generation of readers.Reading volunteers work with elementary school age children to promote reading. They may read books to children, listen to children read aloud, or distribute books to school children. Reading volunteers promote the activity of reading, rather than focusing on teaching reading skills. They may read to a whole class of children, to a small group, or be assigned a child to read to one-on-one. During the time they spend with new readers, reading volunteers encourage them to learn to read.Almost anyone who knows how to read can be a reading volunteer. High school students, college students, parents, grandparents, and police officers are just an example of the kinds of people who become reading volunteers. Being able to read and wanting to spend time inspiring children to read are the only skills needed to be a successful reading volunteer.Several educational research studies show that children who are involved in programs with adult reading volunteers improve their school performance levels. For example, in 1998, researcher Sara Rimm-Kaufmann found that first graders involved in a program with an adult reading volunteer three times a week had better letter recognition and reading skills than similar first graders who hadn’t been involved in such groups. In 2000, the Eugene Research Institute found that fifth graders who had been in “SMART”, an adult volunteer literacy program, were 60% more likely to have grade-level scores in standardized reading tests. Moreover, a 2006 study by Brian V olkmann showed that children who were read to by adult volunteers had improved school attendance, which is a major predictor of high school graduation rates.In addition, reading volunteers themselves can gain a lot of benefits that range from expanding their personal networks to adding valuable skills to their resumes. They also enjoy the special time they get to spend with young children. Many volunteers have heart-warming stories to share with the children they read to. The volunteers know that they are inspiring young children with a proved educational strategy. So, if you have time, energy, and skill to support children’s literacy, it is a good idea to sign up to be a reading volunteer.【答案】71. common /standard72. skills 73. encouragement/inspiration74. Requirements/Qualifications/Conditions75. Benefits/Advantages/Effects76. recognizing77. pass 78. skipping79. relationship(s)80. job【解析】本文为说明文。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读(6)含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（6）含答案解析【题文】Is Cash Becoming Outdated?When he rolls into a gas station to fill his tank, Barkhad Dahir doesn’t get out of his car. He pushes a few buttons on his cellphone and within seconds he has paid for the fuel. With the same quick pushes on his phone, he pays for virtually everything he needs: groceries at the supermarket, a few oranges from a market stall, or a cup of sweet milky tea from a café. Mr. Dahir boasts, “Even lying in bed, you can be paying your bills.”Electronic payments offer consumers convenience, provide revenue for banks, credit card companies and payment processors, and offer merchants improved cash flow and convenience. “I don’t even carry money any more,” says Adan Abokor, a democracy activist. “I haven’t seen c ash for a long time. Almost every merchant, even hawker (小贩) on the street, accepts payment by cellphone. There’s no waiting for it and no counting of cash.”The system is impressively simple and secure. Purchases are made by dialing a three-digit number, entering a four-digit PIN, and then entering the retailer’s payment number and the amount of money. Both customers and merchants receive text messages to confirm the payment.Clearing up cash payments has several advantages as well. The printing and handling of money is expensive. Cash payments can be anonymous and hard to track criminal activities to be conducted in secret. Many governments favor reducing cash dealings in order to better monitor and understand the activities of their citizens. The Swedish government has been discussing the removing of cash since 2010.However, some people doubt what members of a cashless society do when the power goes off. Do they choose to barter (物物交换) and rob? Do they sit at home and wait? What happens to people who rely on their cellphones to process money dealings when cell service and the Internet are interrupted? A world affected by terrorism and increasingly violent weather may not yet be ready to abandon currency. “Ironically, the day after the largest bank in Norwa y, DNB, proposed ending all cash dealings, I went to my local grocery store and when I tried to pay by phone, I was told that I needed to go to the ATM to get cash because the system was broken.” said an interviewee.Other people fear that electronic payments may create security and fraud risks and enable dealings to be tracked and reported. Privacy, security and convenience are all important factors in the adoption of electronic payment technology. New technologies which balance and address these factors may enable people to remove cash.【答案】56. access57. Advantages/Benefits58. save/free/spare59. safe/secure60. cost/expense61. convenient/easy62. failure/cut63. privacy64. use/effect/adoption65. disappear/vanish【解析】这是一篇议论文。
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（36）含答案解析
江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（36）含答案解析江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（36）含答案解析【题文】Life can be overwhelming (令人不知所措的).We want to do as much as we can, see the world, learn new things —and it can all get a bit too much. Sometimes we reach a point when we feel that we can no longer be interested in everything. We have to shut some of life out, and we don’t like that. We a re living under the false assumption that to know anything worthwhile takes years of study, so we might as well forget it.But sometimes inside us rebels. We still want to learn new things and make new things. They don’t have to be big things. Coping with too big a challenge can be daunting (令人怯步的）.The secret is to be a “micromaster” by perfecting lots and lots of small things — for a big payoff.A micromastery is a self-contained unit of doing, complete in itself, but connected to a greater field. You can perfect that single thing and move on to bigger things. A micromastery is the way we learn as kids. You never absorb all the fundamentals straight away 一you learn one cool thing, then another. Psychologist MihalyCsikszentmihalyi has written about “flow” 一a state in which time seems to be suspended because our involvement in what we’re doing is so great. A micromastery，because it is repeatable without being repetitious, has all the elements that allow us to enter a flow state, which produces great contentment.As we get older our default setting (默认设置）becomes “off” not “on”. We stop getting interested in new things because we haven’t got enough time or energy. This is an excuse but whocan b lame us when we hear we need 10,000 hours to “master” something. Micromastery slices through all the excuses. You start with something so small and easy that it doesn’t impact on your life except positively.We envy the person who has a perfect French acce nt, who can roll kayak, or compose a poem that isn’t laughable，who can lay a brick wall that doesn’t fall down. These are regarded as hard things to learn which mean a greater mastery of the filed concerned. But with micromastery you can start with the test piece and then — and only then — do you go back upstream to learn anything more about the new world.Seeing the world in terms of micromasteries makes anything seem possible. Fancy bookbinding?Yoga?Tap dancing or tank driving? All have their micromaster ies. It’s very liberating —you no longer have to feel trapped in your day job. You will start, in a small way, to get your life back from the idea that the world seems to push on us that we should do just one thing all our lives.【答案】51．ambitious/ greedy 52．immediate/ instant53．small/ humble 54．build/ depend/ rely/ count/ rest/ base55．gradual/ steady/ slow 56．involved/ absorbed/ buried/ occupied/ engaged57．positive 58．explore 59．extend/ stretch/ cross/ break/ push60．master/ god/ controller/ commander【解析】这是一篇议论文。
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江苏高考英语百日训练之任务型阅读（58）含答案解析【题文】请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格的空格处填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意：请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。
每个空格只填一个单词。
Why should mankind explore space? Why should money, time and effort be spent exploring and researching something with so few apparent benefits? Why should resources be spent on space instead of on conditions and people on Earth? These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup as human beings. What drove our ancestors to move from the trees into the plains, and on into all possible areas and environments? With the wide spread of a species, human beings can get high chance of survival. Perhaps the best reason for exploring space is this genetic tendency to expand wherever possible.Nearly every successful civilization has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, we may be completely destroyed by the danger. With knowledge, we can lessen its effects.Exploration also allows minerals and other potential resources to be found. Even if we have no need of them right now, they will perhaps be useful later. Resources may be more than physical possessions. Knowledge or techniques have been acquired through exploration. The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. We have already benefited from other spinoffs including improvements in earthquake prediction, in satellites for weather forecasting and in communications systems. Even nonstick pans and mirrored sunglasses are byproducts of technological developments in the space.While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The danger exists, but knowledge can help human beings to survive. Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist.While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets. It is true that the lifestyle would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.【答案】46. Questions47. rather 48. instinct49. wider 50. prepared51. immediately52. improving53. predicting54. creativity55. solve【解析】本文是一篇说明文，介绍了人类进行太空探索的原因及意义。
【46题详解】考查名词。
根据第一段中的“These are questions that, understandably, are very often asked.”可知，为什么探索太空，为什么把时间、金钱和精力花在没有明显益处的东西上以及为什么把资源花在太空探索上而不是地球上等这些都是常被问起的问题，故填Questions。
【47题详解】考查介词短语。
根据第一段中的“Why should resources be spent on space instead of on conditions and people on Earth?”可知，为什么把资源花在太空探索上而不是地球上呢？rather than表示“而不是”，故填rather。
【48题详解】考查名词。
根据第二段中的“Perhaps the best answer lies in our genetic makeup as human beings.”可知，答案在于人类的基因构成，也是探索新区域和环境是人类的本能，故填instinct。
【49题详解】考查固定结构。
根据第二段中的“With the wide spread of a species, human beings can get high chance of survival.”可知，随着一个物种的广泛蔓延，人类有很大的生存机会，也就是蔓延得越广，生存机会就越大，此处为“the+比较级，the+比较级”结构，表示“越……，越……”，故填wider。
【50题详解】考查动词。
根据第三段中的“Nearly every successful civilization has explored, because by doing so, any dangers in surrounding areas can be identified and prepared for.”可知，通过探索，周围地区的任何危险都能被识别出来并做好准备，get prepared表示“做好准备”，故填prepared。
【51题详解】考查副词。
根据第四段中的“Exploration also allows minerals and other potential resources to be found. Even if we have no need of them right now, they will perhaps be useful later.”可知，探索会让我们发现矿物和其他潜在资源，即使我们不马上需要它们，将来也许会有用，故填immediately。
【52题详解】考查非谓语动词。
根据第四段中的“The techniques may have medical applications which can improve the length or quality of our lives. ”可知，这些技术可以应用于医学上，可以延长我们的寿命或提高我们的生活质量，result in后接动名词作宾语，故填improving。
【53题详解】考查非谓语动词。
根据第四段中的“We have already benefited from other s pinoffs including improvements in earthquake prediction, in satellites for weather forecasting ”可知，我们已经受益于其他附带成果，包括预报地震和天气等，与7处并列作介词in的宾语，后接动名词，故填predicting。
【54题详解】考查名词。
根据倒数第二段中的“While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploratio n of space allows creative, brave and intelligent members of our species to focus on what may serve to save us.”可知，虽然许多资源都花在了看似微不足道的回报上，但太空探索让我们这个物种中富有创造力、勇敢和聪明的成员能够专注于可能拯救我们的东西，此处缺少名词作主语，故填creativity。
【55题详解】考查动词。
根据倒最后一段中的“While Earth is the only planet known to support life, surely the adaptive ability of humans would allow us to live on other planets.”可知，虽然地球是目前已知唯一支持生命存在的星球，但人类的适应能力肯定会让我们能在其他星球上生存，也就是说太空探索会帮助人类解决地球上的一些潜在问题，故填solve。