单选题 Federal efforts to aid minority businesses began in the 1960s、when the Small Business Administration(SBA) began making federally guaranteed loans and government sponsored management and technical assistance available to minority business enterprises.While this program enabled many minority entrepreneurs to form new businesses,the results were disappointing,since managerial inexperience,unfavorable locations,and capital shortages led to high failure rates.Even 1 5 years after the program was implemented,minority business receipts were not quite two percent of the national economy’s total receipts. Recently federal policymakers have adopted an approach intended to accelerate development of the minority business sector by moving away from directly aiding small minority enterprises and toward supporting large,growth oriented minority firms through intermediary companies.In this approach,large corporations participate in the development of successful and stable minority businesses by making use of government-sponsored venture capital.The capital is used by a participating company to establish a Minority Enterprise Small Businesses that have potential to become future suppliers of customers of the sponsoring company. MESBIC’s are the result of the belief that providing established firms with easier access to relevant management techniques and more job-specific experience,as well as substantial amounts of capital,gives those firms a greater opportunity to develop sound business foundations than does simply making general management experience and small amounts of capital available.Further。since potential markets for the minority businesses already exist through the sponsoring companies,the minority businesses face considerably less risk in terms of location and market fluctuation.Following early financial and operating problems,sponsoring corporations began to capitalize MESBIC’s far above the legal minimum of $500000 in order to generate sufficient income and to sustain the quality of management needed.MESBIC’s are now emerging as increasingly important financing sources for minority enterprises. Ironically,MESBIC staffs,which usually consist of Hispanic and Black professionals,tend to approach investments in minority firms more pragmatically than do many MESBIC directors,who are usually senior managers from sponsoring corporations.The latter often still think mainly in terms of the “social responsibility approach”and thus seem to prefer deals that are riskier and less attractive than normal investment criteria would warrant.Such differences in viewpoint have produced uneasiness among many minority staff members,who feel that minority entrepreneurs and businesses should be judged by established business considerations.These staff members believe their point of view is closer to the original philosophy of MESBIC’s and they are concerned that,unless a more prudent course is followed,MESBIC directors may revert to policies likely to recreate the disappointing results of the original SBA approach.
单选题 Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:在MESBIC支持下,为它的潜在市场提供大量资金等,使它们在地点和市场流通方面风险小得多,从而带来足够的收入和保持所需的管理质量。上述内容都说明MESBIC比SBA的成功可能性大。
单选题 According to the passage,the MESBIC approach differs from the SBA approach in that MESBIC’s__________。
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】解析:根据第二段第二句可知,In this approach,large corporations participate in the development of successful and stable minority businesses by making use of government-sponsored venture capital.
单选题 Which of the following statements about the SBA program can be inferred from the passage?
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】解析:SBA帮助的企业失败率很高——令人失望,从而推断C项结论正确。
单选题 The author refers to the“financial and operating problems”encountered by MESBIC’s primarily in order to________.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】解析:第三段最后一句:MESBIC’S are now emerging as increasingly important financing sources for minority enterprises.说明MESBIC必须取得足够的资金才能有效地运转。
单选题 It can be inferred from the passage that the attitude of some MESBIC staff member toward the investments preferred by some MESBIC directors can be best described as________.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】解析:文章最后一段讲述了MESBIC的职工和高级经理观点的分歧,造成MEBSIC的职工对领导所青睐的投资项目不满意和失望。