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 can be the most proper title of the passage?
A、Business and Society.
B、Paternalism in Japan.
C、The Limits Imposed on American Business.
D、The Business of Business.
【正确答案】：D
【名师解析】:选项D "The Business of Business" 是最合适的标题，因为它直接回应了文章开头提出的问题，即“the business of business is business”意味着什么。文章通过比较不同社会对商业的看法和期望，探讨了商业的本质和它在社会中的角色。文章指出，商业的目的和道德责任是由社会决定的，并且这些决定是随着社会观念的变化而变化的。因此，标题D不仅涵盖了文章的中心论点，也反映了文章讨论的深度和广度。其他选项，如A、B和C，虽然与文章内容有关，但它们要么太过宽泛，要么只关注文章中的一个特定方面，没有D选项那样全面地概括文章主题。
