They were expected to do the impossible.

他们被要求去做不可能的事。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

He expected me to do the impossible.

他期待我做办不到的事。

youdao

Do the impossible instead of the possible.

去做不可能的事，而不是墨守成规。

youdao

and so it was impossible to do the work;

VOA: special.2009.05.16

If you have a computer that plays chess and you want to explain how the computer plays chess, it's impossible to do so without talking about the programs and mechanisms inside the computer.

如果你有一台能下国际象棋的计算机,你想要解释计算机是如何下国际象棋的，如果你不谈程序以及计算机的内部结构,那你就不能对它如何下国际象棋,给出解释。

耶鲁公开课 - 心理学导论课程节选

Oftentimes, inventions that seem, in the abstract, to be good ideas may be impossible because something that you have to do to make it actually come into practice is too expensive and so it's not economic to produce the invention.

通常在理论上,创新固然不错,但却很难实现,因为把创意变成现实,花费会相当的昂贵,实现这样的创意非常不合算

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

We should feel sorry for the Greeks, because they have been asked to do the impossible over the last two years.

BBC: Should we feel sorry for Greece?

Yet at the end his approach to creative leadership required raising the bar remarkably high, inspiring others to do the impossible, and an almost unwavering ability to focus.

FORBES: The 3 Things That Steve Jobs Taught Us About Creative Leadership

Even in its present muscular mood, even with its present unchallenged power, an America that is asked to do the impossible, or which promises it, is bound to disappoint.

ECONOMIST: Bali, Iraq and now a nuclear North Korea