President Coolidge’s statement, "The business of America is business," still points to an important truth today—that business institutions have more prestige 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 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.
1. The statement "The business of America is business" probably means " ".
A. America is great power in world business
B. Business is of primary concern to Americans
C. The business institutions in America are concerned with commerce
D. Business problems are of great importance to the American government
2. Americans believe that they can realize their personal values only .
A. by protecting their individual freedom C. by way of competition
B. when given equality of opportunity D. through doing business
3. Who can benefit from business competition?
A. People with ideals of equality and freedom. C. Honest businessmen.
B. Both business institutions and government. D. Both businessman and their customers.
4. Government is believed to differ strikingly from business in that government is characterized by .
A. its role in protecting basic American
B. its absolute control of power
C. its democratic way of exercising leadership
D. its function in preserving personal freedom
5. What is the following paragraph of the passage probably about?
A. hard work can be protected by competition in some ways
B. businesses in other countries are not as competitive as those in America
C. American businesses are more democratic than those in other countries
D. Americans are more ambitious than people in other countries
参考答案： B C D B A
柯立芝总统说，“美国的大事是商业”，这句话仍然表明了当今一个很重要的现实：商业机构在美国社会比任何其他组织，包括美国政府，具有更高的威望。为什么商业机构有这么大的威望呢？
原因之一是美国人把认为商业机构比其他任何社会机构都更坚定地以竞争目标为基础。既然竞争被美国人看作是进步和繁荣的主要源泉，竞争的商业机构就受到人们尊敬。不仅竞争本身是好的，它还是保护诸如个人自由、机会平等、勤奋工作等美国价值观的手段。
竞争通过保证没有权力垄断而保护个人自由。与全能的政府不同，许多商机构为了利润而互相竞争。从理论上讲，如果一个商业企业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。凡是有许多商业企业为嫌顾客的钱而竞争的地方，它们都不敢像对待下级或奴隶那样来对待顾客。
竞争的商业企业与垄断的政府经常形成鲜明对照。因为工商业是竞争的，所以许多美国人认为它比政府更支持自由，虽然政府领导人是人民选举的，而工商企业界领袖不是。因此，很多美国人认为竞争对保护自由和民主一样重要，甚至比民主更重要。
商业竞争也被认为能增强机会均等的理念。竞争被看作是一个公平、公平的竞赛，胜利总是归于跑得最快的人，而不管他的社会阶级背景。通过竞争取得胜利在美国通常被看作取代了“根据家庭背景决定社会地位”。因此工商业被看作是机会均等思想的表达，而不是继承特权的贵族思想的表达。
