Google’s Enemies

谷歌的敵人

The search giant’s antitrust headache gets bigger

搜索巨頭的反壟斷之困日漸增大

　　Since the start of this year, Google’s share price has fallen steadily as investors have begun to fret about its longer-term prospects. Now they have another reason to worry. On June 24th the company revealed that America’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had opened a broad investigation into its online-search and online-advertising businesses to see if it has abused its dominant position. Some pundits predict that the trustbusters’ tussle with Google could turn as bloody as their battle with Microsoft in the 1990s.

　　自今年初以來，由于投資者開始對(duì)谷歌發(fā)展遠(yuǎn)景感到擔(dān)憂，其股價(jià)穩(wěn)步下跌。如今他們又有了新的擔(dān)憂理由，該公司在6月24日透露，美國聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)為確定谷歌是否濫用了主導(dǎo)地位，對(duì)其在線搜索和在線廣告業(yè)務(wù)展開了廣泛調(diào)查。一些專家預(yù)測，聯(lián)邦反托拉斯檢察官與谷歌的角力可能會(huì)變得非常殘酷，其激烈程度可能與1990年代對(duì)決微軟不相上下。

　　The regulators’ move comes at an awkward time for Google, which faces a growing threat from Facebook, the world’s biggest social network. Facebook aims to supplant Google as the main conduit via which people access the web. On June 28th Google hit back, unveiling Google+, a social-network platform to rival Facebook.

　　世界最大的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)臉書意欲取代谷歌成為人們上網(wǎng)的主要媒介，對(duì)谷歌的威脅與日俱增，可是恰在此時(shí)監(jiān)管者又對(duì)谷歌展開了行動(dòng)。在6月28日，谷歌還以顏色，發(fā)布了社交網(wǎng)路平臺(tái)谷歌+，以與臉書一爭高下。

　　Google’s new offering, which is still in trial form, boasts some handy features. It makes it easy to set up separate groups, thus sparing your boss from seeing your semi-clothed and inebriated party snaps. It also lets up to ten people hold a video chat together. But this will probably not be enough to get people to abandon Facebook, which benefits from a powerful network effect: people join it because most of their friends already have.

　　谷歌的新產(chǎn)品(仍處在測試階段)具有一些方便的功能。它讓創(chuàng)建不同的群變得容易，因此不會(huì)讓你的老板看到你的半裸和醉態(tài)熏熏的派對(duì)快照，同時(shí)它最多還能容納十個(gè)人在一起視頻聊天。但臉書從強(qiáng)大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)效應(yīng)受益良多，這可能也不足以讓人們割舍它：人們加入臉書是因?yàn)樗麄兇蠖鄶?shù)的朋友已經(jīng)加入。

　　Still, Google’s determination to keep innovating has served it well in its core business of search, where it commands nearly two-thirds of the market in America and an even higher share elsewhere. It is this dominance that has attracted regulators’ attention in America and abroad. Last November the European Commission announced a similarly sweeping review of Google’s operations.

　　然而，谷歌不斷創(chuàng)新的決心對(duì)其核心搜索業(yè)務(wù)幫助很大，在這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)上谷歌幾乎占據(jù)美國市場的三分之二，而在其他地區(qū)甚至擁有更高份額。正是這種優(yōu)勢地位吸引了美國和海外監(jiān)管者的注意。去年十一月，歐盟委員會(huì)宣布對(duì)谷歌的業(yè)務(wù)展開類似的全面調(diào)查。

　　Another reason that Google is attracting more attention is that it keeps expanding into new areas. In Silicon Valley, one of the first questions a potential investor asks a start-up is: “What would you do if Google moved into your space?” Some of Google’s new ventures have been controversial. For instance, regulators recently gave the company a green light (with conditions attached) to acquire ITA Software, which provides online flight information. Several other travel companies opposed the deal, howling that it would limit competition. Google’s critics say that because it has its fingers in so many pies, from online video to location-based services, it must surely be tempted to give some of its own businesses an artificial boost in its rankings.

　　谷歌吸引更多注意的另一個(gè)原因是它不斷向新領(lǐng)域擴(kuò)張。在硅谷，潛在投資者詢問新創(chuàng)辦公司的首要問題是：“如果谷歌進(jìn)入你們的業(yè)務(wù)領(lǐng)域，你們會(huì)怎么做?”谷歌的一些新投資項(xiàng)目充滿爭議，比如監(jiān)管者近來對(duì)該公司收購在線航班信息公司ITA Software的交易大開綠燈，其他一些旅游公司對(duì)這項(xiàng)交易表示強(qiáng)烈反對(duì)，他們咆哮說，這將限制競爭。谷歌的批評(píng)家表示，因?yàn)楣雀枞局噶藦脑诰�視頻到位置服務(wù)的眾多領(lǐng)域，它必定非常想人為推高自己業(yè)務(wù)的排名。

　　Google acknowledges that it makes hundreds of tweaks a year to the algorithms that determine the search results it serves up. But it insists that its aim is to improve users’ experience by, for example, blocking spam and thwarting firms that try to game its system. It also likes to point out that its rivals, including Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing search engine, are merely a click away. Rivals retort that only Google’s name has become a verb, and that this reflects its vice-like grip on the market. (The other possibility is that Google’s search engine is more popular because it is better.)

　　谷歌承認(rèn)每年會(huì)對(duì)決定搜索結(jié)果的算法進(jìn)行數(shù)百項(xiàng)修改，但堅(jiān)稱其目標(biāo)是通過諸如阻止垃圾信息和對(duì)利用其系統(tǒng)進(jìn)行作弊的公司進(jìn)行阻擾的方式來提高用戶體驗(yàn)。谷歌也樂于指出，其競爭對(duì)手——包括雅虎和微軟的必應(yīng)搜索引擎與它僅有咫尺之遙。競爭對(duì)手則反駁說，只有谷歌的名字成為一個(gè)動(dòng)詞，這一點(diǎn)就反映出谷歌對(duì)市場牢固的控制力。(另一個(gè)可能性是谷歌的搜索引擎更好，所以更加流行)。

　　Google is not invincible. Bing has been slowly increasing its share of American searches and is working with Facebook on integrating social-networking data into its results in a bid to improve them. (This is another reason why Google wants its own source of social data.) People are also being offered more and more digital information via other sources, including specialised search engines and software applications on smartphones.

　　谷歌并非不可戰(zhàn)勝。必應(yīng)在美國搜索市場的份額一直在緩慢地增長，而且它目前正與臉書共同努力將社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)數(shù)據(jù)整合到必應(yīng)搜索結(jié)果中，以提高它們的地位。(這是谷歌希求自己的社交數(shù)據(jù)來源的另一個(gè)原因)。人們也正在通過其他來源得到越來越多的數(shù)字信息，包括專門化的搜索引擎和智能手機(jī)上的軟件應(yīng)用程序。

　　When it comes to web advertising, it is equally hard to see how any charges of monopolistic abuse against Google can be made to stick. There is no shortage of sites and ad networks unconnected to Google that are ready to take advertisers’ dollars. And the cost of switching from Google to a rival is very low.

　　對(duì)于網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告來說，針對(duì)谷歌壟斷濫用的任何指控同樣難以成立。不少與谷歌沒有干系的網(wǎng)站和網(wǎng)絡(luò)做好了賺取廣告費(fèi)的準(zhǔn)備，而且從谷歌轉(zhuǎn)投到其競爭對(duì)手旗下的成本非常低。

　　None of this guarantees that Google will escape unscathed from the investigation. Eric Goldman of Santa Clara University reckons that the FTC’s watchdogs could raise questions about Google’s habit of occasionally bidding in its own ad auctions to promote “house” ads for its businesses. Google insists that it has always been transparent about this practice.

　　這些都不能保證谷歌能夠安然逃脫調(diào)查。圣塔克拉拉大學(xué)(Santa Clara University)的埃里克·高曼估計(jì)，美國聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)的監(jiān)管人員可能對(duì)谷歌偶爾參與自己組織的拍賣活動(dòng)，為自身業(yè)務(wù)需要推銷自家廣告(House Ad)的行為進(jìn)行盤問。谷歌堅(jiān)稱對(duì)此業(yè)務(wù)一直保持透明。

　　Like watchdogs for chocolate

　　恰似監(jiān)管人員之于巧克力

　　Yet even if Google has to make some concessions in the end, talk of its predicament being the same as Microsoft’s in the 1990s is plainly ridiculous. By embedding only its own web browser into its Windows operating system, Microsoft deliberately restricted users’ choice in the hope they would become addicted to its products.

　　而即使谷歌最終不得不讓步，有關(guān)其困難處境與1990年代的微軟如出一轍的說法也顯然是荒謬的。微軟為了讓客戶對(duì)它的產(chǎn)品“上癮”，通過蓄意在自家Windows操作系統(tǒng)中嵌入自家的網(wǎng)絡(luò)瀏覽器的方式，限制了用戶的選擇。

　　Google is also addictive, but in the way that chocolate is, not in the way that cigarettes are. People love Googling, but they can easily give it up. Google’s lawyers must be hoping that the FTC understands this crucial distinction.

　　谷歌也令人“上癮”，但這種癮是巧克力那種癮，而不是煙草的那種癮。人們愛用谷歌進(jìn)行搜索，但是他們可能很容易就棄它不用。谷歌的律師必定指望，美國聯(lián)邦貿(mào)易委員會(huì)能夠理解這種差別。

　　點(diǎn)擊查看講義輔導(dǎo)資料及網(wǎng)校課程

　　口譯：翻譯資格考試三級(jí)口譯模擬題 翻譯資格考試二級(jí)口譯模擬題 翻譯資格考試一級(jí)口譯模擬題

　　筆譯：翻譯資格考試三級(jí)筆譯模擬題 翻譯資格考試二級(jí)筆譯模擬題 翻譯資格考試一級(jí)筆譯模擬題

　　資料來源考試網(wǎng)校喬宏軒老師主講教材精講班課程，完整講義下載進(jìn)入個(gè)人中心>>

　　　　下載焚題庫APP——翻譯資格考試——題庫——做題，包括章節(jié)練習(xí)、每日一練、模擬試卷、歷年真題、易錯(cuò)題等，可隨時(shí)隨地刷題�！�在線做題>>】【下載APP掌上刷題】

　　如果你基礎(chǔ)薄弱，自學(xué)能力差，復(fù)習(xí)盲目抓不住要點(diǎn)，迫切想獲取證書的考生，群內(nèi)老師提供備考指導(dǎo)。歡迎加入翻譯資格考試群：497125381 還能和考友一起學(xué)習(xí)交流!