填空题

Rather than using custom machine tools to build early models of new parts, Ford is now using 3-D printing technology to design and test its engineers’ latest ideas. The new method allows product developers to have a (1) in their hands in as little as a week after they create a new design—compared with having to wait three to four months (2) .
"We’re building more and more parts every day using this (3) ," says Harold Sears, a technical expert in rapid manufacturing at Ford’s design facility in Dearborn, Mich. Ford’s new hybrid transmission was developed on a 3-D printer that costs about ＄300,000 and which can turn a pile of aluminum powder into a working prototype in a day or two.
While low-cost 3-D printing by consumers and small businesses looks like a market now ready for takeoff, large businesses have already (4) advanced versions of the technology. The result has been a (5) improvement in the product-development process across a wide range of industries, including the (6) of cars, consumer electronics, safety equipment and medical devices.
The process has done more than just save time and money. Engineers say rapid prototyping using 3-D printing is producing more (7) , higher-quality products—from custom-fitted bicycle helmets to better-sounding ear buds and loudspeakers.
Instead of waiting for tools and parts to come back from outside machine shops or injection-molding houses, product developers on tight (8) now get more hands-on time to test their models. 3-D printers allow them to test and (9) more versions of their prototypes—in some cases tripling the number of duplicates of a new product that can be (10) before being produced on a large scale.
A. previously B. thereafter C. process D. elastic E. deadlines
F. manufacturing G. significant H. innovative I. ignited J. embraced
K. lubricate L. prototype M. refined N. update O. mechanisms