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Part II: Reading comprehension (40%)
Directions: There are four passages in this part. After each passage, there are five questions. You are to choose the best answer for each question. Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.
Passage 1
Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United State unprecedented opportunities as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than >00,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government. Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.
Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figure collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from --7 million in 1972 to '.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contract with minority businesses for the early 1980's is estimated to be over 53 billion per year with no lately anticipated in the next decade.
Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they open need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to person work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get requests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company's efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.
A second risk is that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many instances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil rights groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White backing, rather than being accepted as full piers in legitimate joint ventures.
Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer open run the danger of becoming, and — remaining — dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce competition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
21. The primary purpose of the passage is to ________.
A. present a commonplace idea and its inaccuracies
B. describe a situation and its potential drawbacks
C. propose a temporary solution to a problem
D. analyze a frequent source of disagreement
22. According to the passage, civil rights activists maintain that one disadvantage under which minority-owned businesses have traditionally had to labor is that they have ________.
A. been especially vulnerable to governmental mismanagement of the economy
B. been denied bank loans at rates comparable to those afforded larger competitors
C. not had sufficient opportunity to secure business created by large corporations
D. not been able to advertise in those media that reach large numbers of potential customers
23. The passage suggests that the failure of a large business to have its bids for subcontracts result quickly in orders might cause it to ________.
A. experience frustration but not serious financial harm
B. face potentially crippling fixed expenses
C. have to record its efforts on forms filed with the government
D. increase its spending with minority Subcontractors
24. The author implies that a minority-owned concern that does the greater part of its business with one large corporate customer should ________.
A. avoid competition with larger, more established concerns by not expanding
B. concentrate on securing even more business from that corporation
C. try to expand its customer base to avoid becoming dependent on the corporation.
D. pass on some of the work to be done for the corporation to other minority-owned concerns.
25. The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements about corporate response to working win minority subcontractors?
A. Annoyed by the proliferation of "front" organizations, corporations are likely to reduce their efforts to work with minority-owned subcontractors in the near future.
B. Although corporations showed considerable interest in working with minority businesses in the 1970's, their aversion to government paperwork made them reluctant to pursue many government contacts.
C. The significant response of corporations in the 1970's is likely to be sustained and conceivably be increased throughout the 1980's.
D. Although corporations are eager to cooperate with minority owned businesses, a shortage of capital in the 1970's made substantial response impossible.
参考答案：
21. 选B。文章写到了少数族裔企业的现状，并用较长篇幅分析了其可能面临的风险问题。
22. 选C。从原文手段they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies可知，少数族裔企业的劣势是从大企业那里拿不到订单。
23. 选A。从第三段的最后一句Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company's efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer可根据小的企业的状况，推导出大的企业所面临的处境。
24. 选C。从最后一段首句可知，少数族裔公司若与大公司做生意，则很难摆脱对其的依赖性，因此推出少数族裔公司应当扩大自己的客户来源。
25. 选C。从第二段的末句可知，增长的势头没有减弱，句中letup指停顿，减弱