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  3. Recent years have brought minority—owned businesses in the United States not only unprecedented opportunities but also new and s

Recent years have brought minority—owned businesses in the United States not only unprecedented opportunities but also new and s

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问题     Recent years have brought minority—owned businesses in the United States not only unprecedented opportunities but also new and significant risks. Civil right activists have long argued that one of the primary reasons why Blacks, Hispanics and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack of access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than $ 500, 000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government. Actually, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.
    Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the overall number of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $ 77 million in 1972 to 1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over $ 3 billion per year with no letup anticipated in the next decade.
    Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investment in new plants, staff, equipment and so on in order to perform work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company’s efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.
    A second risk is that White—owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionment through formation of joint ventures with minority—owned firms. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; apparently, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil right groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures.
    Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often runs the danger of becoming and remaining dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases; when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
The principle purpose of the text is to
选项 A、present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies.
B、describe a situation and its potential disadvantages.
C、propose a temporary solution to a problem.
D、analyze a frequent source of disagreement.
答案B
解析 这是一道全文主旨题。第一段阐述了“最近几年来，美国少数民族企业在遇到了前所未有的良好机会的同时，也面临着新的巨大的危险”。“现在国会已经同意通过法律要求被奖励了价值50万美元以上的联邦合同企业要尽力找少数民族分包者，并将有关情况报告给政府登记备案”。第三段起始句写道：“尽管资助的增加给少数民族企业带来了很大的希望，这样做同时也给他们带来了风险。”然后，文章从三个方面具体说明了这种风险。故正确选项应该是B，作者描述了一种情况，并且分析了它的不足之处。
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