President Coolidge’s statement, “The business of America is business,” still points to a very important truth today — that business organizations have more prestige (威望) in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions still possess this great prestige?
One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the idea of petition than other organizations in society. Since petition is seen as the main source of progress and development by most Americans, petitive business organizations are respected. Competition is not only good in itself; it is the means by which other basic American values, such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.
Competition protects the individual freedom by making sure that there is no monopoly (垄断) of power. Compared with one and all-powerful government, many businesses pete against each other for benefit. If one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to the peting business which treats its customers more fairly. Since there are many businesses peting for the customers’ dollars, they cannot afford to treat them unfairly and the customers would lose nothing.A contrast is often made between business, which is petitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because business is petitive, many Americans believe that it gives more support for freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people while business leaders are not. Many Americans believe that petition is as important, or even more important, as democracy in protecting freedom.
Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the idea of equal opportunities. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to any person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is monly seen as the American choice of the higher social position which is not based on one’s family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equal opportunities.
【小题1】Which of the following is discussed as the main topic in the passage?A．Competition in America’s business.B．Freedom in America’s business.C．Americans’ different values.D．Business against government.【小题2】Americans believe that they can realize their personal values .A．when given equal opportunitiesB．through doing businessC．by protecting their individual freedomD．by means of petition【小题3】Who can benefit from business petition?A．Businessmen who pete.B．Customers of those businesses.C．People with the idea of equality and freedom.D．Both business organizations and government.【小题4】It could be inferred from the passage that the author believes .A．business in other countries are not as petitive as those in the USAB．business problems are very important to the American governmentC．the petition in business plays a very important role in AmericaD．American business is the most powerful one in the whole worldA
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(答案→)A
解析：这篇文章主要讲了竞争在美国商业贸易中扮演着非常重要的角色。
【小题1】根据One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the idea of petition than other organizations in society.故选A。
【小题2】根据Competition is not only good in itself; it is the means by which other basic American values, such as individual freedom, equality of opportunity, and hard work are protected.故选D。
【小题3】根据If one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to the peting business which treats its customers more fairly.所以答案为B。
【小题4】根据Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the idea of equal opportunities. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to any person regardless of his or her social class background.因此选C。