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  3. Recent years have brought minority owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and signific

Recent years have brought minority owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and signific

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问题     Recent years have brought minority owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, His-panics, 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 $ 500,000 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 per- centage goals for apportioning parts of public works contracts to minority enterprises.
    Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from $ 77 million in 1972 to $1.1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980’s is estimated to be over 53 billion per year with no letup 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 often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform 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. I3oth 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 in- stances 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 partners in legitimate joint ventures.
    Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often 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 corpo- rate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.
Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author’s assertion that, in the 1970’s, corporate response to federal requirements(lines 23 — 24)was substantial?
选项 A、Corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses totaled $ 2 billion in 1979.
B、Between 1970 and 1972, corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses declined by 25 percent.
C、The figures collected in 1977 under-represented the extent of corporate contracts with minority-owned businesses.
D、The estimate of corporate spending with minority-owned businesses in 1980 is approximately $ 10 million too high.
E、The $1.1 billion represented the same percentage of total corporate spending in 1977 as did $ 77 million in 1972.
答案E
解析 哪一个正确，会贬低作者结论：“70年代，企业对政府要求反应是强烈的”?注意要对原文推理过程进行反驳。A．1979年合同额，和原文无关。B．1970～1972年，合同数的下降。文中做推论，由1972年之后数据说起，无关。C．1977年的数据低估了和少数民族所签合同的范围。不但不能反驳，反而更加强了作者论证力度，因为这一下，1977年比1972年增长更多了。D．1980年的合同额，无关。E．正确。1977年的11亿美元和1972年的7700万美元实际所占总合同额比率是一致的。本选项正是“针对”原文推理的弱点“所作反驳”(合同额一反应强烈，中间有一步推理假设，即后面常见的assumption)。
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