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 against 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 onfamily background. Business is therefore viewed as and expression of the idea of equality of

　　opportunity rather than the aristocratic(贵族的) idea of inherited privilege.

　　练习题：

　　Choose correct answers to the question:

　　1. The statement "The business of America is business" probably means"________".

　　A. The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce

　　B. Business problems are of great importance to the American government

　　C. Business is of primary concern to Americans

　　D. America is a great power in world business

　　2. Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only_____ .

　　A. when given equality of opportunity

　　B. through doing business

　　C. by protecting their individual freedom

　　D. by way of competition

　　3. Who can benefit from business competition?

　　A. Honest businessmen.

　　B. Both businessmen and their customers.

　　C. People with ideals of equality and freedom

　　D. Both business institutions and government.

　　4. Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by ____.

　　A. its absolute control of power

　　B. its function in preserving personal freedom

　　C. its role in protecting basic American values

　　D. its democratic way of exercising leadership

　　5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes _____ .

　　A. Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries

　　B. in many countries success often depends on one's social status

　　C. American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries

　　D. businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America

　　1.[C] 词义理解题。回答本题的关键是理解business的两个不同的含义：①商业，生意;②职责，事物，事。句中前一个business的意思应当是“事物,职责”，而后一个business的意思应当是“商业”，因此C为正确答案。

　　2.[D] 事实细节题。解题关键在于对第2段最后一句定语从句的理解。该句指出竞争是对基本美国价值的保护伞，故可知，D为正确答案。

　　3.[B] 推理判断题。第3段提到，商业之间为利润而互相竞争，因此商人在竞争中能获利;而对待其顾客不好的商家会被友好地对待其顾客的商家在竞争中打败，因此顾客也能从竞争中获利，所以B为正确案。

　　4.[A] 事实细节题。第4段第1句提到，商业与政府的不同之处在_商业是竞争性的，而政府是垄断性的，也即有着绝对的控制权，因此A为正确答案。

　　5.[B] 推理判断题。第5段第3句提到，靠竞争而来的成功通常被看作是用来替代基于家庭背景的社会地位的成功的美国式的成功。”其言下之意是在别的国家成功不是靠竞争，而是靠社会地位，因此B为正确答案。