The Magic Birthday Candles in Space
(An excerpt from a science fiction)
My birthday was going to be extra special for two reasons. For one thing, like Commander Park said, “Nobody’s ever turned nine in space before, David.” Mom, my sister Rebekah, and I were moving to Mars for a year. We’d spent almost two weeks in the spaceship so far.
I was trying to keep the other reason secret. But the day before my birthday, Rebekah caught me with my cheeks puffed (膨胀) way out. “What are you doing? Practicing to blow out all the candles this year?” She laughed. “This time I will,” I said. “Everybody on the ship will be watching, so...”
“Oh, David,” my sister interrupted.
“Your cake can’t have candles. Fire on a spaceship is too dangerous.”
When I turned away, she patted my shoulder. “At least you don’t have to worry about blowing them all out.”
Our mother has an important job, maintaining the ship’s electrical systems. Besides, I wanted to act mature about this. If I couldn’t blow out the candles like I wanted, at least I was old enough not to complain about it.
After dinner on my birthday, Mom floated into the cafeteria, carrying my birthday cake. I was amazed. “Candles!” I shouted, staring at the nine shining on top of the cake. “I thought fire wasn’t allowed on a spaceship.” “Look closer,” my mother said. The candles were really electrical lights, with tiny flame-shaped bulbs.
“Awesome,” I said. “But I wish I could blow them out.”
She laughed, then made a blow, and all nine went out. Another puff, and they lit up again.
“Everybody, sing!” ordered Commander Park. Once the passengers and crew were done, I took my deepest ever breath. I’m nine now. I can do this! I thought. Everyone watched the candles. Whoosh! I blew as hard as I could. All the ship’s lights went out! Everyone gasped (倒抽一口气).
“You didn’t have to blow that hard, David,” said Rebekah. I laughed, and so did Commander Park. Someone asked, “What’s wrong? When is the backup power coming on?”
“I’ll take a look. Does anyone have a flashlight on them?” said Mom.
No one would ever think of taking a flashlight to a birthday party.
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It is a widely held belief that routine, low-skilled jobs are most at risk for automation, but the report shows that many middle-class roles are also at risk. Financial analysts, accountants and lawyers could all see significant changes by 2022. But manual workers could be among the hardest hit.
Meanwhile, there could be a huge change in the structure of the workforce, with the executives surveyed by WEF expecting a shift away from full-time work to flexible employment with a focus on productivity.
All industries expect big skills gaps, stating that at least 50 percent of their workforce will require reskilling of some degree. The aviation, travel and tourism industry will have the largest demand for reskilling.
【写作内容】
1.用约30个单词概述短文的主要内容；
2.用约120个单词发表你的观点，内容包括:
(1) 这一现象产生的原因有哪些(不少于两点)；
(2) 面对即将到来的“智能时代”你所做的准备。
【写作要求】
1.阐述观点或提供论据时，不能直接引用原文语句；
2.作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3.不必写标题。
【评分标准】内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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