President Coolidge’s statement, “The business of America is business,” still points to a very important truth today — that business organizations have more prestige (威望) in American society than any other kind of organization, including the government. Why do business institutions still possess this great prestige? One reason is that Americans view business as being more firmly based on the idea of competition than other organizations in society. Since competition is seen as the main source of progress and development by most Americans, competitive business organizations 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 individual freedom by making sure that there is no monopoly (垄断) of power. Compared with one and all-powerful government, many businesses compete against each other for benefit. If one business tries to take unfair advantage of its customers, it will lose to the competing business which treats its customers more fairly. Since there are many businesses competing for the customers’ dollars, they cannot afford to treat them unfairly and the customers would lose nothing.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 gives more support for freedom than government, even though government leaders are elected by the people while business leaders are not. Many Americans believe that competition is as important, or even more important, as democracy in protecting freedom. Competition in business is also believed to strengthen the idea of equal opportunities. Competition is seen as an open and fair race where success goes to any person regardless of his or her social class background. Competitive success is commonly seen as the American choice of the higher social position which is not based on one’s family background. Business is therefore viewed as an expression of the idea of equal opportunities. 小题1:Which of the following is discussed as the main topic in the passage?
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