Section A Read this paragraph and answer the questions. It is widely believed that machines destroy jobs, and force the workers who did them into poverty. These beliefs have been held for hundreds of years, dating back to the Industrial Revolution. However, the fact that times of great innovation have not produced massive or long-term levels of unemployment or extensive poverty is not always understood. Unemployment remains an ongoing issue, but it should not be linked to the advance of technology. New technology can, by increasing business investment, lead to the creation of more jobs and lower unemployment. Therefore, predictions that technology will disadvantage large numbers of workers and cause widespread unemployment are unlikely to be accurate. Fill in the gap with ONE WORD from the paragraph. 1. Answer Question 1[input] about industrialisation causing job losses are not justified.Short answer
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Question

Section A Read this paragraph and answer the questions. It is widely believed that machines destroy jobs, and force the workers who did them into poverty. These beliefs have been held for hundreds of years, dating back to the Industrial Revolution. However, the fact that times of great innovation have not produced massive or long-term levels of unemployment or extensive poverty is not always understood. Unemployment remains an ongoing issue, but it should not be linked to the advance of technology. New technology can, by increasing business investment, lead to the creation of more jobs and lower unemployment. Therefore, predictions that technology will disadvantage large numbers of workers and cause widespread unemployment are unlikely to be accurate. Fill in the gap with ONE WORD from the paragraph. 1. Answer Question 1[input] about industrialisation causing job losses are not justified.Short answer

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The noun "predictions" fits the gap because it is the exact one-word term in the paragraph that refers to assertions about job losses and matches the grammatical and semantic requirements of the sentence.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Word choice and reference: the blank must be filled with a single word from the paragraph that refers to statements about industrialisation causing job losses.
- Grammar: the subject of the clause uses the plural verb "are", so a plural noun is required.
- Contextual coherence: the chosen word must preserve the paragraph’s argument that claims about technology causing widespread unemployment are unlikely.

2. Step-by-step reasoning
- Locate candidate sentences in the paragraph. The last sentence reads: "Therefore, predictions that technology will disadvantage large numbers of workers and cause widespread unemployment are unlikely to be accurate."
- The test sentence to complete is: "_____ about industrialisation causing job losses are not justified." This calls for a plural noun meaning "statements/claims" that appears in the paragraph.
- Compare candidate words from the paragraph: "beliefs" and "predictions" are both present. Both are plural nouns and could grammatically fit.

3. Intermediate analysis of fit
- Substituting "beliefs": "Beliefs about industrialisation causing job losses are not justified." This is grammatical, but the paragraph contrasts long-held beliefs with the point that specific forecasts about future unemployment due to technology are unlikely.
- Substituting "predictions": "Predictions about industrialisation causing job losses are not justified." This directly ties to the paragraph’s explicit use of "predictions" when dismissing forecasts that technology will cause widespread unemployment.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- The paragraph’s concluding idea explicitly targets predictions about technology’s impact and calls them "unlikely to be accurate." Therefore, repeating "predictions" in the test sentence preserves precise meaning and echoes the paragraph’s dismissive stance toward forecasts of mass unemployment.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- "Beliefs" is present earlier but the paragraph’s main rebuttal addresses predictions/forecasts; using "beliefs" would be less exact. Other synonyms like "claims" or "statements" do not appear as single words in the paragraph and thus would violate the instruction to use ONE WORD from the paragraph.