【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[听力原文] In the 18th century French economists protested the excessive regulation of business by the government. Their motto was laisser faire. Laisser faire means let the people do as they choose. In the economic sense, this meant that while the government should be responsible for things like maintaining peace and protecting property rights, it should not interfere with private business. It shouldn't create regulations that might hinder business growth, nor should it be responsible for providing subsidies to help. In other words, governments should take a hands-off approach to business. For a while in the United States, laisser faire was a popular doctrine. But things quickly changed. After the Civil War, politicians rarely opposed the government's generous support of business owners. They were only too glad to support government lend grants and loans to railroad owners, for example. Their regulations kept tariffs high and that helped protect American industrialists against foreign competition. Ironically in the late 19th century, a lot of people believed that the laisser faire policy was responsible for the country's industrial growth. It was generally assumed that because business owners did not have a lot of external restrictions placed on them by the government, they could pursue their own interests, and this was what made them so successful But in fact, many of these individuals would not have been able to meet their objectives if not for government support. What does the passage mainly talk about? 本短文选项中的competition in business，the rights of private business owners和the government表明，短文很可能与企业或经济政策有关。 选项均为概括性较强的名词短语表明，本题可能考查短文主旨。根据短文开头提到的the excessive regulation of business by the government可知主题为一种经济政策，故答案为C。短文主旨首先可根据选项内容进行推断，然后根据短文内容进行确定。短文开头和结尾一定要给予足够的重视。