President Coolidge’s statement, “The business of America is business, still poin

President Coolidge’s statement, “The business ofAmerica is business,” still points to a very important truth today — thatbusiness organizations have more prestige (威望) inAmerican 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 beingmore firmly based on the idea of competition than other organizations insociety. Since competition is seen as the main source of progress anddevelopment by most Americans, competitive business organizations arerespected. Competition is not only good in itself; it is the means by whichother basic American values, such as individual freedom, equality ofopportunity, and hard work are protected.

Competition protects the individual freedom by makingsure that there is no monopoly (垄断) of power.Compared with one and all-powerful government, many businesses compete againsteach other for benefit. If one business tries to take unfair advantage of itscustomers, it will lose to the competing business which treats its customersmore fairly. Since there are many businesses competing for the customers’dollars, they cannot afford to treat them unfairly and the customers would losenothing.A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, andgovernment, which is a monopoly. Because business is competitive, manyAmericans believe that it gives more support for freedom than government, eventhough government leaders are elected by the people while business leaders arenot. Many Americans believe that competition is as important, or even moreimportant, as democracy in protecting freedom.

Competition in business is also believed to strengthenthe idea of equal opportunities. Competition is seen as an open and fair racewhere success goes to any person regardless of his or her social classbackground. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American choice of thehigher social position which is not based on one’s family background. Businessis therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equal opportunities.

1.Which of the following is discussed as the maintopic in the passage?

A．Competitionin America’s business.        B．Freedom inAmerica’s business.

C．Americans’ different values.             D．Businessagainst government.

2.Americans believe that they can realize theirpersonal values ______.

A．when givenequal opportunities

B．through doingbusiness

C．by protectingtheir individual freedom

D．by means ofcompetition

3.Who can benefit from business competition?

A．Businessmenwho compete.

B．Customers ofthose businesses.

C．People withthe idea of equality and freedom.

D．Both businessorganizations and government.

4.It could be inferred from the passage that theauthor believes ______.

A．business inother countries are not as competitive as those in the USA

B．businessproblems are very important to the American government

C．thecompetition in business plays a very important role in America

D．Americanbusiness is the most powerful one in the whole world

试题答案

【答案】

1.A

2.D

3.B

4.C

【解析】

试题