单选题 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)
单选题 The statement "The business of America is business" probably means "______".
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析：本题属于词语理解题。第一段第一句破折号后的句子提到，在美国社会，工商业机构比任何其他组织(包括美国政府)的威望要高。结合该句出现的上下文(即第一段)，可知句中第一个“business”意为“头等大事，重要事务”，第二个“business”为通常意义上的“商业、贸易、企业”，故选C。
单选题 Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析：本题属于细节理解题。由题干的“realize their personal values”确定本题涉及第二段最后一句，“不仅竞争本身好，它还是保护美国其他价值观念，如个人自由、机会平等、勤奋工作等手段”。理解该句即得答案D。
单选题 Who can benefit from business competition?
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】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。
单选题 Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析：本题属于细节理解题。本题考查政府机构和商业机构的不同。第四段第一句话就提到，“A contrast is often made between business，which is competitive，and government，which is a monopoly of power”，即说明两者最大的不同就是商业是竞争性质的，而政府是垄断性质的(monopoly)。理解“monopoly”可知答案为A。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析：本题属于细节推断题。由本题选项确定本题涉及美国公司和别国公司的比较。推断依据应是最后一段要点：①在美国竞争是公开公正的赛跑，成功属于跑得最快的人，不论其社会阶级背景；②竞争的成功替代了‘基于家庭背景的社会等级；③商业是机遇平等的象征，而不是世袭特权的贵族形象。根据这些要点，可推知其反面即是别的国家的情况。因此可知答案为B。