The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it. An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall — producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system. The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources(private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.
单选题
In lines 7-8, Para.1, 'the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes' means ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】 细节理解题。根据上文“consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most”可以知道：消费者将钱花在自己最想要得到的产品和服务上，从而在很大程度上决定了市场中所要生产的产品。thus表示对上文的总结，结合上下文可以知道：此处的“使收入最大化”指的就是美国人想增加他们收入的购买力，因此D项符合题意。
单选题
The first two sentences in the second paragraph tell us that ______.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】 细节理解题。由文章第二段的第一句“An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers”可知，生产商可以表达并回应消费者的需求。再由同段第二句“In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall — producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product”可知，价格是在不断升降的，生产者会通过降低价格从而使得更多的消费者购买产品。这两句话主要是想告诉我们：价格受到供需关系的调控。因此D项为正确选项。
单选题
According to the passage, a private-enterprise economy is characterized by ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】 细节理解题。根据文章最后一段第一句话“The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources(private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit”可知，私营经济最重要的特征就是private property(私有财产)以及拥有雇工、支配自然资源和生产销售商品服务来营利的这样一些权力。因此A项“私有财产和相关权力”为正确答案。
单选题
The word 'embraces'(line 4, last paragraph)most probably means ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】 词义推测题。分析embrace所在句“the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights”可以知道，embrace的对象“生产资料所有权”以及“一定的权利”都是“私人财产”这个概念所包含的内容，因此embrace在此处意为“包含”，与include意思相近。因此选择B项。hug拥抱；坚持。exclude排除。demand需要。