Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google face claims of 'harmful' power

July 30, 2020

BBC NEWS

The heads of some of the world's biggest tech companies have appeared before Washington lawmakers to defend their firms against claims they abuse their power to?quash?competitors.

Tech giants face feeding frenzy

frenzy n. ?/?frenzi/ ?~ (of sth) a state of great activity and strong emotion that is often violent or frightening and not under control 瘋狂；狂亂；狂暴

? in a frenzy of activity/excitement/violence 瘋狂的活動(dòng)╱興奮╱暴力

? The speaker worked the crowd up into a frenzy . 演講者把聽眾的情緒煽動(dòng)得瘋狂起來。

feeding frenzy n. 1.an occasion when a group of sharks or other fish attack sth （鯊魚等魚群的）瘋狂捕食?2.a situation in which a lot of people compete with each other in an excited way because they want to get sth （對(duì)某物的）集體狂熱追求；（人群的）瘋搶

Feeding frenzy在這里用于形容4巨頭公司在做五分鐘陳述時(shí)，周圍各個(gè)黨派人士不停批判4巨頭，如同鯊魚瘋狂搶食

Four of the world's top technology company executives may have been testifying before the?Judiciary Committee?from a distance, but they were still caught in the middle of a political storm on Wednesday afternoon.

Judiciary Committee：美國參議院司法委員會(huì)

judiciary n. /d?u?d???ri/ （統(tǒng)稱）審判人員；司法部；司法系統(tǒng)?? an independent judiciary 獨(dú)立的司法系統(tǒng)

The stated purpose of the hearing was to address whether existing anti-trust laws?provide sufficient regulation of transnational tech Goliaths. The reality, however, was that the?proceedings?- with each member of the committee receiving five minutes to speak - were more?akin to a feeding frenzy, as corporate chiefs faced criticism from every direction。

Democrats expressed concern that the companies were abusing their power by disadvantaging competitors or buying them out entirely. Republicans accused the witnesses of insufficient patriotism?and being too?cosy?with the Chinese.

anti-trust laws：反壟斷法，反托拉斯法

Goliath n. /ɡ??la??θ/ ?a person or thing that is very large or powerful 巨人；強(qiáng)大的人（或物）? a Goliath of a man 巨人一般高大的男子?? a Goliath of the computer industry 計(jì)算機(jī)行業(yè)的巨頭

形容行業(yè)巨頭我們遇到過tycoon、titan、magnate、giant還有這里的goliath。Tycoon和magnate都指代有行業(yè)巨頭，產(chǎn)業(yè)巨頭。而titan、giant和goliath沒有特定的指代，可以用來形容企業(yè)，也可以形容其他。

proceeding n. ??/pr??si?d??/ ?

1.[ Cusually pl. ] ~ (against sb) (for sth) the process of using a court to settle a disagreement or to deal with a complaint 訴訟；訴訟程序??bankruptcy/divorce/extradition, etc. proceedings 破產(chǎn)、離婚、引渡等訴訟??to bring legal proceedings against sb 向某人提起法律訴訟

2.?proceedings [ pl. ] an event or a series of actions 事件；過程；一系列行動(dòng)

akin to：近似，同類·What he felt was more akin to pity than love. 他感受到的更像憐憫，而不是愛。

patriotism n. /?pe?tri?t?z?m/ ?/?p?t?/ ?[ U ] love of your country and willingness to defend it 愛國主義；愛國精神

cosy /?k??zi/ ?

1.warm, comfortable and safe, especially because of being small or confined 溫暖舒適的（尤指狹小的室內(nèi)地方）??a cosy little room 溫暖舒適的小房間??a cosy feeling 愜意的感覺

2.friendly and private 親密無間的；密切的??a cosy chat with a friend 與朋友親切的閑聊

3.( often disapproving ) easy and convenient, but not always honest or right 輕易得到的，輕松的（但不一定是誠實(shí)或恰當(dāng)?shù)模?/span>

cosy up to sb：( informal ) to act in a friendly way towards sb, especially sb who will be useful to you 獻(xiàn)殷勤；取悅

Both sides expressed outrage?over how the companies managed speech and expression on their platforms. They didn't go far enough in removing hateful rhetoric?and false information, Democrats said. They?singled out conservatives for censorship, the Republicans countered.

outrage /?a?tre?d?/ ?1.[ U ] a strong feeling of shock and anger 憤怒；義憤；憤慨?The judge's remarks caused public outrage. 裁判的話引起了公憤。 2.[ C ] an act or event that is violent, cruel or very wrong and that shocks people or makes them very angry 暴行；駭人聽聞的事；3.to make sb very shocked and angry 使震怒；激怒

rhetoric n. /?ret?r?k/ ?1.華而不實(shí)的言語；花言巧語??the rhetoric of political slogans 政治口號(hào)的虛華辭藻??empty rhetoric 空洞的花言巧語?2.修辭技巧；修辭

single out ：?If you single someone out from a group, you choose them and give them special attention or treatment. 選出; 挑出? ?The gunman had singled Debilly out and waited for him. 槍手單單挑出德比利，并等著他出現(xiàn)

Through it all, the witnesses thanked the questioners and?took their lumps,?perhaps confident that they could soon log off and get back to their work. While all the politicians seemed to agree that the big tech companies were a problem, their chances of arriving at any kind of solution seems unlikely.

Lumps（非正式）參考：thefreedictionary.com

a. Severe punishment or treatment, as a beating or an unsparing criticism: take one's lumps.?嚴(yán)重的懲罰，像毆打或者嚴(yán)厲的批評(píng)

b. One's just deserts; comeuppance: get one's lumps.?罪有應(yīng)得，因果報(bào)應(yīng)

?

What did the companies say?

Appearing by remote video, the executives defended their companies, saying their products helped smaller businesses and they remained vulnerable to competition from newcomers.

Apple boss Tim Cook said the business climate was "so competitive I would describe it as a street fight for market share in the smartphone business".

Mr Bezos, in his first appearance before Congress, denied that Amazon's multiple roles were a conflict of interest, but he admitted the firm was reviewing its handling of sales data from sellers on the site.

The company has been accused of using such information to launch its own version of hot-selling products.

Mr Bezos said Amazon rules forbid staff from looking at sales data from individual companies, but he conceded?it was possible that employees had violated the policy.

concede v. /k?n?si?d/

1.?~ sth (to sb)~ sb sth：to admit that sth is true, logical, etc. 承認(rèn)（某事屬實(shí)、合乎邏輯等）·It must be conceded that different judges have different approaches to these cases. 必須承認(rèn)不同的法官會(huì)采用不同的方法來判定這些案件。

2.~ sth (to sb)~ sb sth ：to give sth away, especially unwillingly; to allow sb to have sth （尤指勉強(qiáng)地）讓與，讓步；允許 ?The President was obliged to concede power to the army. 總統(tǒng)被迫把權(quán)力讓給軍隊(duì)。

3.~ (defeat) to admit that you have lost a game, an election, etc. 承認(rèn)（比賽、選舉等失敗）?After losing this decisive battle, the general was forced to concede. 輸?shù)袅诉@場(chǎng)決定性的戰(zhàn)役后，那位將軍不得不承認(rèn)失敗。

"We are investigating that," he said.

In his prepared remarks, Mr Bezos said Amazon faced significant competition from firms such as Walmartand noted that the company lost money for years as it branched out into new areas.

"I love garage?entrepreneurs - I was one. But, just like the world needs small companies, it also needs large ones. There are things small companies simply can't do," he said.

garage /?ɡ?rɑ??/??n. 車庫；汽車修理廠；飛機(jī)庫vt. 把……送入車庫；把（汽車）開進(jìn)車庫

What has Donald Trump said?

US President Donald Trump is a long-time critic of Amazon and threatened his own action on Twitter, writing: "If Congress doesn't bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders."

He also told reporters that White House officials would?be watching the hearing closely.

be watching the hearing closely：密切關(guān)注聽證會(huì)

Executive Orders：行政命令

"There's no question that what the big tech companies are doing is very bad," he said.

Tech analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities?said "storm clouds" were building in Washington but he thought it was unlikely that Congress would come together on new legislation that would force tech companies to change.

Wedbush Securities韋德布什證券公司

"We think a legislative fix is the only one that creates a potential for limitations on these companies' ability to conduct business, whether that takes the form of higher taxes or new rules regarding market concentration," he wrote.

market concentration：市場(chǎng)集中化/度 公司占有市場(chǎng)的份額。越高的化，壟斷的可能性越大

"Absent a legislative fix, we don't see meaningful change in regulation, although future acquisitions will most certainly be scrutinized and more difficult to close."

Absent a legislative fix：立法修訂的缺陷

acquisition n. /??kw??z??n/ ?

1.（知識(shí)、技能等的）獲得，得到??theories of child language acquisition 幼兒語言習(xí)得的理論

2.（多指貴重的）購得物??His latest acquisition is a racehorse. 他最近購得一匹賽馬。

3.[ CU ] ( business 商 ) ?購置物；收購的公司；購置的產(chǎn)業(yè)；購置；收購

?

原文鏈接：https://www.bbc.com/news/business-53583941

?