美国有线新闻 CNN 美国政府起诉谷歌 国会报告称大型科技公司权力过大

First, though, the U.S. government is suing¹ the Google technology company and 11 states have joined the lawsuit². Here's what this is about. The United States has antitrust laws designed to keep American businesses from having too much power.

今天首则消息，美国政府起诉谷歌科技公司，目前已有11个州加入诉讼。下面来解释一下原因。美国有反垄断法，旨在防止美国企业拥有过多权力。

The U.S. Justice Department says Google has broken those laws in part by keeping competitors from getting a foothold in the online search business.

美国司法部表示，谷歌违反了这些法律，部分原因是谷歌阻止竞争对手在线上搜索业务中立足。

This could prevent Americans from ever getting to see the next Google, the next major search company, according to the Justice Department.

美国司法部称，谷歌这种做法可能使美国人无法看到下一个谷歌——即下一个主要搜索公司——的诞生。

But Google believes the lawsuit is deeply flawed³. It says people use its search engine because they choose, not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives. Those alternatives include Bing and Yahoo and DuckDuckGo, but 90 percent of all Internet searches are made on Google.

但谷歌认为，这起诉讼存在严重缺陷。该公司表示，人们使用其搜索引擎是因为他们选择这样做，而不是因为他们被迫或是因为他们替代品。其它搜索引擎包括必应、雅虎和DuckDuckGo，但90%的互联网搜索都是在谷歌上进行的。

European officials have also fined Google billions of dollars for allegedly preventing competition. The company has appealed those fines and says it's made changes to address concerns in Europe. But Google isn't alone in these investigations⁴.

欧洲官员还因谷歌涉嫌阻碍竞争而对其处以数十亿美元的罚款。该公司已对这些处罚提出上诉，并表示公司已做出改变来消除欧洲的担忧。但谷歌并不是唯一一家被调查的公司。

A recent U.S. congressional report says several major tech companies have too much power. It accuses Amazon of mistreating third party sellers, Apple preventing competition in its App Store, Facebook buying popular apps like Instagram and WhatsApp to prevent these companies from eventually competing with Facebook.

美国国会最近公布的一份报告表示，几家主要科技公司拥有过多权力。报告指责亚马逊欺压第三方卖家，苹果在其应用商店中阻止竞争，脸谱网收购Instagram和WhatsApp等热门应用，以防止这些公司最后与其竞争。

All of these businesses have denied doing anything illegal. They've said they're successful because of their usefulness and popularity⁵, not because they're trying to monopolize⁶ their industry. The suit involving Google is the largest antitrust case against the tech company in more than two decades. And it could be years before it's decided⁷.

所有这些企业都否认存在任何违法行为。他们表示，自已的成功是因为产品有用且受欢迎，而不是因为他们试图垄断行业。这起涉及谷歌公司的诉讼是20多年来针对这家科技公司的最大反垄断案。这起案件可能要历经数年才能做出裁决。

A 1998 lawsuit between the U.S. government and Microsoft eventually led to limits on Microsoft's software business.

1998年，美国政府和微软公司之间的诉讼最终导致微软的软件业务受到限制。 

1 suing   

v.（为要求赔偿损失而）起诉( sue的现在分词 )；控告；请求；要求（尤用于法庭）

参考例句：

• Dr. Bach is now suing the company for slander. 巴赫博士目前正以诽谤罪起诉该公司。 来自辞典例句
• He showed / exercised considerable restraint in not suing for a divorce. 他极力克制自己，不提出离婚诉讼。 来自辞典例句

2 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

3 flawed   

adj. 有裂纹的, 有瑕疵的，有缺陷的

参考例句：

• I would contend that the minister's thinking is flawed on this point. 我倒认为部长的想法在这一点上有漏洞。
• The study was methodologically flawed. 这项研究在方法上有缺陷。

4 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

5 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

6 monopolize   

v.垄断，独占，专营

参考例句：

• She tried to monopolize his time.她想独占他的时间。
• They are controlling so much cocoa that they are virtually monopolizing the market.他们控制了大量的可可粉，因此他们几乎垄断了整个市场。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。