阅读理解
'There is one and only one social responsibility of business,' wrote Milton Friedman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, 'That is, to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits.' But even if you accept Friedman's premise and regard corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies as a waste of shareholders' money, things may not be absolutely clear-cut. New research suggests that CSR may create monetary value for companies—at least when they are prosecuted for corruption. The largest firms in America and Britain together spend more than $15 billion a year on CSR, according to an estimate by EPG, a consulting firm. This could add value to their businesses in three ways. First, consumers may take CSR spending as a 'signal' that a company's products are of high quality. Second, customers may be willing to buy a company's products as an indirect way to donate to the good causes it helps. And third, through a more diffuse 'halo effect,' whereby its good deeds earn it greater consideration from consumers and others. Previous studies on CSR have had trouble differentiating these effects because consumers can be affected by all three. A recent study attempts to separate them by looking at bribery prosecutions under America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It argues that since prosecutors do not consume a company's products as part of their investigations, they could be influenced only by the halo effect. The study found that, among prosecuted firms, those with the most comprehensive CSR programmes tended to get more lenient penalties. Their analysis ruled out the possibility that it was firms' political influence, rather than their CSR stand, that accounted for the leniency: Companies that contributed more to political campaigns did not receive lower fines. In all, the study concludes that whereas prosecutors should only evaluate a case based on its merits, they do seem to be influenced by a company's record in CSR. 'We estimate that either eliminating a substantial labour-rights concern, such as child labour, or increasing corporate giving by about 20% results in fines that generally are 40% lower than the typical punishment for bribing foreign officials,' says one researcher. Researchers admit that their study does not answer the question of how much businesses ought to spend on CSR. Nor does it reveal how much companies are banking on the halo effect, rather than the other possible benefits, when they decide their do-gooding policies. But at least they have demonstrated that when companies get into trouble with the law, evidence of good character can win them a less costly punishment.
单选题
The author views Milton Friedman's statement about CSR with ______.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】由题干中的人名关键词Milton Friedman定位至第一段第一句。 推理判断题。文章开头就引用了诺贝尔奖获得者、经济学家米尔顿·弗里德曼的话。其言论的主要意思是商业机构的天职就是关注利益和追逐利润，而作者在随后对此观点的评价是But even if you accept Friedman's premise and regard CSR policies as a waste of shareholders' money, things may not be absolutely clear-cut，其中的even if you accept就暗示出作者对于米尔顿·弗里德曼说的话并不认可，故选项B正确。 米尔顿·弗里德曼指出，商业机构的社会责任就是追求利润，而本文之后都是在讨论商业机构投入于社会公益的问题，可见作者的态度不可能是包容或同意，故先排除选项A和选项D；作者对其论断的评价是may not be absolutely clear-cut，但这里并不是说态度的不确定，而是情况的不确定，故选项C也应排除。
单选题
According to Paragraph 2, CSR helps a company by ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】由题干提示和关键词helps定位于第二段第二句，该句中的add value to与help意义相近。 细节理解题。该句指出，CSR可以从三个方面为企业的生意增加价值。其一，消费者可能会将企业社会责任方面的花费视为公司产品品质高的一个“信号”。其二，消费者可能会愿意购买一个公司的产品，作为向它所扶助的公益事业捐赠的一种间接方式。其三，通过一种影响面更大的“光环效应”，企业的善举会赢得消费者和其他人更多的关注。综合来看，企业的社会责任主要可以通过赢得消费者的信任来使公司获益，故选项A为答案。 作者在第二段中并没有提到企业的名誉遭到诋毁的问题，也没有提到企业是否做出不当行为的问题，故选项B中“防止其做出不当行为”和选项C中“保护其不受诋毁”在原文中均没有提及，应该排除；第二段第三句提到了产品质量问题，但原文的意思是企业的社会公益行为会让消费者认为该公司产品质量好，而不是直接提高产品质量，可见选项D夸大了原文的意思，故也排除。
单选题
The expression 'more lenient' (Line 2, Para. 4 ) is closest in meaning to ______.
单选题
When prosecutors evaluate a case, a company's CSR record ______.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】由题干关键词evaluate a case和CSR定位于文章第五段第一句。 细节理解题。定位句指出，尽管检察官应该仅仅基于案件本身的情况进行评估，他们似乎还是受到了企业社会责任记录的影响。随后，作者还引用了一位研究者的话，以具体案例和数据说明社会责任记录良好的企业的确可以获得轻罚。因此，选项A符合题意，为答案。 原文的意思是检察官会受到社会责任记录的影响，并不是说CSR可以作为某种可靠证据，故选项B与原文不符，可排除；从定位句之后的句子可知，社会责任记录会导致轻罚，选项C中“增加其受处罚的机率”与原文意思相悖，也排除；第五段第一句明确指出社会责任记录不属于“案件本身的情况”，本不应该被纳入案件考量的范围，因此CSR不可能是案件调查的部分，故选项D也应排除。
单选题
Which of the following is true of CSR, according to the last paragraph? ______
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】根据题干提示，本题答案应出自最后一段，并与关键词CSR有关。 细节理解题。文章最后一段首句提到，研究人员承认，他们的研究并不能解答企业应该在社会责任项目上投入多少的问题。这与选项B中“企业在这方面的必要花销应该是多少尚不清楚”的说法完全一致，故选项B符合文意，应为答案。 文章虽然提到了关于社会责任记录的一些研究结果尚不明确，但并没有提到企业投入社会公益有什么负面影响，所以选项A中“它对于企业的负面影响常常被忽略”不符合文意，应排除；文章谈到履行社会责任需要企业进行投入，但没有提到企业能否承受，故选项C中“公司在这方面的经济能力被高估了”在文中也没有依据，应排除；选项D中“它给银行业带来了很多益处”是对该段第二句Nor does it reveal how much companies are banking on the halo effect的曲解，原文的意思是研究并没有揭示企业可以从光环效应中获得多少益处，而与银行业无关，故排除选项D。