阅读理解 Educators and business leaders have more in common than it may seem. Teachers want to prepare students for a successful future. Technology companies have an interest in developing a workforce with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills needed to grow the company and advance the industry. How can they work together to achieve these goals? Play may be the answer. Focusing on STEM skills is important, but the reality is that STEM skills are enhanced and more relevant when combined with traditional, hands-on creative activities. This combination is proving to be the best way to prepare today’s children to be the makers and builders of tomorrow. That is why technology companies are partnering with educators to bring back good, old-fashioned play. In fact many experts argue that the most important 21st-century skills aren’t related to specific technologies or subject matter, but to creativity; skills like imagination, problem-finding and problem-solving, teamwork, optimism, patience and the ability to experiment and take risks. These are skills acquired when kids tinker (鼓捣小玩意). High-tech industries such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found that their best overall problem solvers were master tinkerers in their youth. There are cognitive (培养) benefits of doing things the way we did as children—building something, tearing it down, then building it up again. Research shows that given 15 minutes of free play, four- and five-year-olds will spend a third of this time engaged in spatial, mathematical, and architectural activities. This type of play—especially with building blocks—helps children discover and develop key principles in math and geometry. If play and building are critical to 21st-century skill development, that’s really good news for two reasons; Children are born builders, makers, and creators, so fostering (培养) 21st-century skills may be as simple as giving kids room to play, tinker and try things out, even as they grow older. Secondly, it doesn’t take 21st-century technology to foster 21st-century skills. This is especially important for under-resourced schools and communities. Taking whatever materials are handy and tinkering with them is a simple way to engage those important "maker" skills. And anyone, anywhere, can do it.
单选题 What does the author say about educators?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节辨认题。定位句指出，教育工作者和商界领袖的共同点比看起来要多。教师希望为学生成功的未来做好准备。Teachers“教师”指的就是educators“教育工作者”，由此可见，教育工作者帮助学生为成功的未来做好准备，即帮助学生获得未来成功所需的技能，故答案为C)。
单选题 How can educators better develop students’ STEM skills, according to the author?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句提到，专注于STEM技能很重要，但当STEM技能与传统的动手创造性活动相结合时，这些技能会增强。事实证明，这种结合是让今天的孩子成为明天的创造者和建设者的最佳方式。换言之，通过将培养STEM技能与传统的、趣味盎然的活动相结合，能够更好地培养学生的STEM技能，故答案为A)。
单选题 How do children acquire the skills needed for the 21st century?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句指出，许多专家认为21世纪最重要的技能与特定的技术或主题无关，而是与创造力有关；如想象力、发现问题和解决问题的能力、团队合作、乐观、耐心以及做实验和冒险的能力。这些都是孩子们鼓捣小玩意时获得的技能。由此可见，孩子们可以通过摆弄东西来自己解决问题，从而获得21世纪所需的技能，故答案为B)。
单选题 What can we do to help children learn the basics of math and geometry?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句提到，这种类型的游戏——特别是搭积木——帮助孩子们发现和掌握数学和几何学的关键原理。由此可见，鼓励孩子们动手做东西可以帮助他们学习数学和几何的基础知识，故答案为C)。
单选题 What does the author advise disadvantaged schools and communities to do?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句指出，这一点对于资源不足的学校和社区尤其重要。利用手边的任何材料，让孩子们去鼓捣小玩意，这是运用那些重要的“制造者”技能的一个简单方法。任何人在任何地方都能做到。换言之，资源不足的学校和社区应尽可能地利用现有资源，故答案为B)。
单选题 What does the author say about working in IT?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句提到，“我”并不羡慕信息技术工作者，或者说IT工作者的工作。由此可知，作者对这样的工作不感兴趣，故答案为B)。
单选题 What is the finding of a recent survey on employees who have a job reliant on IT support?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】细节辨认题。定位段提到，根据最近的一项调查，那些自身工作依赖信息技术支持的员工认为，信息技术是他们工作不满意的主要原因。他们自己毫无过错，却突然发现生产效率在下降，或质量控制不起作用。他们对此几乎无能为力。由此可知，答案为C)。
单选题 What is said to happen when IT is functioning properly?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句指出，当信息技术正常运作时，员工的自信心就会增加。当运转良好的机器将他们从枯燥的任务或重复性的流程中解放出来时，他们的工作满意度也会激增。换言之，当信息技术正常运行时，员工对自己的工作更有信心，故答案为D)。
单选题 What should business leaders do before implementing new IT initiatives?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】推理判断题。定位句指出，当业务领导在实施信息技术计划时很少考虑这些更改将如何影响终端用户时，就会发生这种情况。结合本段倒数第二句可知，这种情况指的是一旦信息技术改造项目出问题，会导致满满的期望破灭，一长串承诺提高效率的方法被推翻。因此，业务领导在实施信息技术计划时，应考虑对员工可能产生的影响，故答案为D)。
单选题 How can a business help improve its employees’ experience in using IT?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】细节辨认题。文章最后一段指出，企业需要建立自己的信息技术基础设施，使其设计能够适应员工的工作，而不是让员工调整自己的工作以适应公司的信息技术系统。即企业应设计适合员工工作需求的系统，故答案为A)。