Passage 2A famous cliche maintains that "the business of business is business". The business of business is not government, charity, or social welfare. Nor, the cliche implies, is its morality But what does "the business of business is business" mean? To get some perspective on the question, we must look beyond our own society. What we find is this? what is considered to be business and its business varies from society to society. In Japan, the business of large corporations is not only to produce goods but to care for the firm's employees — in effect, to guarantee them lifetime employment. Paternalism is thus part of the business of business in Japan, in a way that it is not in the United States. In the former Soviet Union, private ownership of the means of production, that is, of companies and factories, was prohibited by law. Nevertheless, there were in Russia factories, offices, stores, and goods. But business there was a state affair, not a private affair. What constitutes business varies from society to society. The question of what business per se is, and what its proper concern is, is a social question, one that must be answered in a social context.In the United States, the mandate to business was initially rather simple. People wanted goods to be as plentiful, as good, and as cheap as possible. Those interested in producing them were given relatively free rein under competitive conditions. Some businesses succeeded and grew? others failed. As problems developed, regulations were introduced by law. These laws regulated working conditions, protected children, prevented monopolistic practices, and preserved the environment. The regulations frequently represented the moral concerns of the American people. The business of business was, and is, decided by the people of each society. What practices are or are not to be tolerated are not eternal givens, nor are the determinations of what is or is not acceptable to a society. To some extent, the mandate to business also sets the limits to its proper activity, and to what is not socially tolerable. The limits are not set by business or by those who run business, even though some of them act as if they were. The limits imposed on business and the demands made upon business by society are frequently moral ones. A business may ignore the moral demands of an individual, but it can hardly ignore the moral demands of a whole society, because it is both part of that society and dependent on it, even though it serves society.There is increasing evidence that the mandate to business in the United States is changing and that businesses are increasingly expected to weigh more than financial factors in their actions. What the business of business is, in fact, is itself a moral decision, and one that is socially made and implemented. Insofar as business is a part of society, it rightfully has a voice in arriving at the social determination of what its business is.
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A、the United States, mandate to business was and still is very simple.
B、Business is independent of society.
C、The business of business is a moral decision socially made and implemented.
D、Business people in the United States regard financial factors as the essence of business.
【正确答案】：C
【名师解析】:根据文章内容，选项C是正确的。文章指出，商业的本质和其适当的关注点是一个社会问题，必须在社会环境中回答。在美国，商业的使命最初相对简单，但随着问题的发展，引入了法律规定，这些法律反映了美国人的道德关注。文章强调，商业的使命是由每个社会决定的，商业的适当活动范围和社会对其的要求常常是道德上的。商业不能忽视整个社会的道德要求，因为它是社会的一部分并且依赖于它。文章最后指出，商业在美国的使命正在变化，商业越来越被期望在其行动中权衡不仅仅是财务因素。因此，商业的本质实际上是一种社会制定和实施的道德决定。
