欧盟草拟激进版权改革方案向谷歌等施压

 　　European news publishers will be given the right to levy¹ fees on internet platforms such as Google if search engines show snippets of their stories, under radical² copyright reforms being finalised by the European Commission.

　　根据欧盟委员会(European Commission)正在拟定的激进版权改革，欧洲新闻出版商将被授予向谷歌(Google)等互联网平台收费的权利——只要搜索引擎显示了他们的报道片段。

　　The proposals, to be published in September, are aimed at diluting³ the power of big online operators, whose market share in areas such as search leads to unbalanced commercial negotiations⁴ between search engines and content creators, according to officials.

　　欧盟官员们表示，定于9月发表的这些提议，目的是为了稀释大型在线运营商的实力，它们在搜索等领域的市场份额导致了搜索引擎与内容创作者之间在商业谈判中处于不对等的地位。

　　The move will heap further pressure on the strained relationship between Silicon⁵ Valley and Brussels, which are embroiled⁶ in increasingly fractious arguments over issues covering competition, tax and privacy. This week, the US Treasury⁷ department attacked commission moves to levy billions of euros from Apple for alleged⁸ underpayment of taxes in Europe.

　　此举将给硅谷和布鲁塞尔之间的紧张关系带来更大压力；近来双方在竞争、税收和隐私等问题上越来越谈不拢。本周美国财政部抨击了欧盟委员会以苹果(Apple)涉嫌在欧洲少缴税为由、可能向该公司征收数十亿欧元税款之事。

　　Under the draft copyright plan, news publishers would receive “exclusive rights” to make their content online available to the public in a move that would force services such as Google News to agree terms with news organisations for showing extracts of articles.

　　根据版权计划草案，新闻出版者将拥有把它们的在线内容提供给公众的“独家权利”，此举将迫使谷歌新闻(Google News)等在线服务与新闻机构就显示文章片段商定条款。

　　Citing dwindling⁹ revenues at news organisations, the commission warns that failure to act would be “prejudicial for?.?.?.?media pluralism”, according to one internal document.

　　欧盟委员会的一份内部文件提到新闻机构的营收不断减少，警告称，不采取行动将“有损……媒体多元化”。

　　Critics of the idea argue that similar efforts to charge Google for aggregating¹⁰ news stories have failed in both Germany and Spain. Google responded to a mandatory¹¹ levy in Spain by shutting down Google News in the country.

　　批评者指出，德国和西班牙曾经发起的向谷歌收取聚合新闻报道费用的类似努力都失败了。谷歌对西班牙强制性收费的回应是在该国关闭谷歌新闻。

　　In Germany, many publishers opted¹² to waive¹³ the charge in order still to appear on the search engine’s news results after suffering big drops in traffic.

　　在德国，很多出版社在遭受流量大跌后选择放弃收费，以便仍能在该搜索引擎的新闻搜索结果上出现。

　　Julia Reda, a German MEP and copyright reform activist¹⁴, said: “They recognise that German and Spanish rights did not work well, but structurally¹⁵ they are trying to do the same thing.”

　　德国欧洲议会议员、版权改革活动家朱莉娅?里达(Julia Reda)表示：“他们认识到德国和西班牙的权利制度没有很好发挥作用，但从结构上说，他们正试图做同样的事情。”

　　But she said the size of Google would make it hard for publishers to reach a deal even with the exclusive right. “It is insane to believe that [they] would win this battle,” she said. Google declined to comment.

　　但她表示，谷歌的规模意味着，出版社即使具备独家权利，也很难达成协议。“疯子才会相信他们能打赢这场战斗，”她说。谷歌拒绝置评。

　　Under the proposals, news publishers would not be obliged to levy a fee for an aggregator to show a segment of content, and could offer it free. Officials have made clear that simply linking to publicly available content is not covered by the EU’s copyright rules — a fact that will not change under the proposals.

　　根据版权改革提议，新闻出版商将不会被强制向聚合商收取显示内容片段的费用，而是可以免费提供。官员们明确表示，仅仅是链接到可公开获得的内容是不受欧盟版权规则约束的——改革提议不会改变这个事实。

　　Christian¹⁶ Wigand, a spokesperson for Brussels, said: “Let's be clear; granting such rights to news publishers would not affect the way users share hyperlinks¹⁷ on the internet. It would recognise their role as investors¹⁸ in content.”

　　布鲁塞尔方面的发言人克里斯蒂安?威根德(Christian Wigand)表示：“让我们说清楚：赋予新闻出版商这类权利，并不影响用户分享互联网上的超链接。出版商作为内容投资者的角色将得到承认。”

　　Elsewhere in an impact assessment¹⁹ of the proposed reforms, Google was held up as an example to be followed. Under the new rules, user-generated video sites would have to introduce tech-nology to identify copyright-protected work, similar to that which Google-owned YouTube already employs.

　　与此同时，在评估拟议改革的影响的一份报告中，谷歌被列为一个效仿的榜样。按照新版规则，用户生成内容的视频网站将必须引入技术来识别版权保护的作品，类似于谷歌旗下YouTube已经采用的做法。

1 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 diluting   

稀释，冲淡( dilute的现在分词 )； 削弱，使降低效果

参考例句：

• A companion would have been a distraction, diluting the pathos of the moment. 要是有一个伴侣在旁就会分散我的注意，冲淡此时此刻的哀婉之情。
• Diluting agent has certain transparency for ink multi-color overprint. 冲淡剂具有必定的透明量，适分油不朱的众色叠印。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

6 embroiled   

adj.卷入的；纠缠不清的

参考例句：

• He became embroiled in a dispute with his neighbours. 他与邻居们发生了争执。
• John and Peter were quarrelling, but Mary refused to get embroiled. 约翰和彼得在争吵，但玛丽不愿卷入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

8 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

9 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

10 aggregating   

总计达…( aggregate的现在分词 )； 聚集，集合； （使）聚集

参考例句：

• The thesis first promotes based Object Oriented Modeling method-Aggregating & Deriving Mothod. 本文首先提出了基于面向对象思想的建模方法——聚合派生法。
• Multidimensional data cubes are composed of base cube and other cubes aggregating on base cube. 多维立方体由基本立方体和基本立方体的聚集产生的立方体组成。

11 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

12 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

13 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

14 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

15 structurally   

在结构上

参考例句：

• The house roof was (structurally) unsound. 这屋顶（结构）不牢固。
• Pinhole on shot-hole damage is never structurally significant. 针孔和蛀洞所造成的危害对结构的影响不大。

16 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

17 hyperlinks   

n.超链接( hyperlink的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Specifies if hyperlinks are displayed and function within the control. 指定是否显示超级链接以及它是否在控件中起作用。 来自互联网
• View, add, and change pages, documents, themes, and borders; recalculate hyperlinks. 查看、添加和更改网页、文档、主题和边框；重新计算超链接。 来自互联网

18 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

19 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？