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 posses this great prestige?
柯立芝总统的声明“美国的事业就是商业”，今天仍然指出了一个重要的事实，即商业机构在美国社会中比包括政府在内的任何其他组织都更有威望。为什么商业机构拥有如此巨大的声望？
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.
其中一个原因是，美国人认为商业比社会上其他机构更牢固地建立在竞争的理想基础上。由于竞争被大多数美国人视为进步和繁荣的主要来源，因此有竞争力的商业机构受到尊重。竞争不仅本身是好的，也是保护个人自由、机会平等和努力工作等其他美国基本价值观的手段。
Competition protects the freedom of the individual by ensuring that there is no monopoly 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.
竞争通过确保权力不被垄断来保护个人的自由。与一个全能的政府不同，许多企业为了利润而相互竞争。从理论上讲，如果一家企业试图利用其客户的不公平优势，它将输给对客户更公平的竞争企业。在许多企业争夺客户美元的地方，他们不能把他们当作下等或奴隶。
A contrast is often made between business, which is competitive, and government, which si 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, that democracy in preserving freedom.
商业是竞争性的，政府是垄断性的，两者之间经常形成对比。因为商业是有竞争力的，许多美国人认为它比政府更支持自由，尽管政府领导人是由人民选举产生的，而商业领导人不是。因此，许多美国人认为，在维护自由方面，竞争与民主同等重要，甚至更重要。
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 idea of inherited privilege.
商业竞争也被认为可以加强机会平等的理想。竞争被视为一场公开、公平的比赛，无论社会阶层背景如何，最快的人都能获得成功。竞争性成功通常被视为美国人对基于家庭背景的社会地位的替代。因此，商业被视为机会平等思想的表达，而不是继承特权的贵族思想。
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