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  3. President Coolidge’s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today—that business in

President Coolidge’s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today—that business in

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问题     President Coolidge’s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today—that business institutions have more prestige (威望) in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions possess this great prestige?
    One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the ideal of competition than other institutions in society. Since competition is seen as the major source of progress and prosperity by most Americans, competitive business institutions 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 freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly (垄断) of power. In contrast to one all-powerful government, many businesses compete a-gainst each other for profits. Theoretically, if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Where many businesses compete for the customers’ dollar, they cannot afford to treat them like inferiors or slaves.
    A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which is a monopoly. Because business is competitive, many Americans believe that it is more supportive of freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people and business leaders are not. Many Americans believe, then, that competition is as important, or even more important, than democracy in preserving freedom.
    Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the ideal of equality of opportunity. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to the swiftest person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American alternative to social rank based on family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equality of opportunity rather than the aristocratic (贵族的) idea of inherited privilege. (337 words)
Who can benefit from business competition?
选项 A、Honest businessmen.
B、Both businessmen and their customers.
C、People with ideals of equality and freedom.
D、Both business institutions and government.
答案B
解析 本题属于细节判断题。第三段第一句提到“Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly of power”，即“竞争通过确保没有垄断来保护商家的公平竞争”；倒数第二句提到“Theoretically，if one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers，it will lose to competing business which treats its customers more fairly”，即“如果商家想不公平地占顾客的便宜，那它就会输给较公平地对待顾客的竞争对手”，也就是说对顾客有利。所以竞争对商家和顾客都有好处。本文中涉及的主体有business／institutions，businessmen，government和customers等。综观全文要点，在竞争中获利的是customers和fair businesses。因此选B。
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