VOA慢速英语20060714a

ECONOMICS REPORT - European Union Fines Microsoft -- AgainBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, July 14, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.




The European Commission ruled Wednesday that Microsoft is still using its powerful market position illegally. The top European Union official for competition policy ordered a fine of more than two hundred eighty million euros. The amount is almost three hundred sixty million dollars. Microsoft said it would appeal in court.

In March of two thousand four, the commission ordered Microsoft to release technical information about its Windows operating system. At that time, the commission fined the company almost five hundred million euros.

The order was meant to permit competitors to create software that can operate with Microsoft products. It is estimated that more than ninety percent of personal computers in the world use Windows.

Brad Smith is Microsoft's top lawyer. He released a statement from the company headquarters in Redmond, Washington, after the fine was announced. Mister Smith says Microsoft has already provided thousands of pages of technical documents. He says the March two thousand four decision was not clear and that clarity is the real issue.

Mister Smith says Microsoft finally received a clear definition of the requirements this April and has already met nearly all of them. He says the company has over three hundred employees working around the clock to finish by July twenty-fourth. And he says it is hard to understand the huge fine when, in his words, the agreed-upon finish line is just days away.

Neelie Kroes is the European Union commissioner¹ for competition policy. She says the two thousand four decision was completely clear. She noted² that a European court had ordered Microsoft more than eighteen months ago to release the information without delay.

Mizz Kroes said Microsoft did not even come close to providing complete information as demanded. This is the first time the European Union has fined a company for failing to meet an anti-trust decision. If Microsoft does not satisfy the commission by July thirty-first, it faces possible fines of three million euros per day. That is almost four million dollars.

Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen started Microsoft in nineteen seventy-five. Microsoft earned just under three thousand million dollars in profit in the period from January through March of this year.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. You can download transcripts³ and audio of our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句