2023年经济学人 Epic诉谷歌垄断案获胜

 

Epic¹诉谷歌垄断案获胜

The world this week--Business

本周国际要闻--商业

The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate on hold at a range of between 5.25% and 5.5%, but it also published projections² that suggested it would cut rates three times in 2024. That delighted investors³. 美联储将其关键利率维持在5.25% - 5.5%的区间不变，但美联储同时发布预测，将在2024年降息三次。这让投资者感到高兴。

Stockmarkets surged, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing at a new all-time high.

股市飙升，道琼斯工业平均指数收盘创下历史新高。

The Fed’s decision came after data for November showed that America’s annual inflation rate had slowed only slightly to 3.1%, and the core rate, which excludes food and energy, had remained at 4%.

美联储做出这个决定前，11月份的数据显示，美国的年通货膨胀率仅略微放缓至3.1%，而剔除食品和能源价格变化后的核心通胀率仍保持在4%。

A federal jury in San Francisco found that Google’s Play app store was a monopoly, a victory for Epic, the gaming company behind the “Fortnite” series. 旧金山的一个联邦陪审团裁定谷歌应用商店Play构成垄断，《堡垒之夜》系列背后的游戏公司Epic获得胜利。

Epic brought the case, accusing Google of rigging competition in the market for Android apps so that it could charge excessive fees. Epic提起诉讼，指控谷歌操纵安卓应用市场的竞争，以便收取过高的费用。

Epic wanted to use its own payments system that avoided the fees. Epic希望使用自家支付系统来避免这些费用。

Epic lost a similar case against Apple in 2021, though that was decided⁴ solely⁵ by a judge. Epic在2021年输掉了一场针对苹果的类似案件，尽管这起案件是由一名法官单独裁定的。

The matter will probably end up in the Supreme⁶ Court.

这件事很可能最终会提交给最高法院。

Anglo American’s share price plunged⁷ by 19% on the day it announced plans to curtail⁸ production, including its iron-ore operations in South Africa. 英美资源集团宣布计划削减生产，包括其在南非的铁矿石业务，当天该公司股价暴跌19%。

The mining company has been hurt by a number of factors, such as higher costs and lower market prices for diamonds.

这家矿业公司受到了许多因素的影响，比如成本上升、钻石市场价格下跌。

There was more consolidation⁹ in the energy industry, as Occidental agreed to buy CrownRock, a privately¹⁰ held shale-oil producer, in a transaction valued at 12bn dollars. 能源行业整合增加，西方石油同意以120亿美元的价格收购私营页岩油生产商CrownRock。

BP said that Bernard Looney, its former chief executive, would forfeit¹¹ up to 32.4m pounds (41m dollars) for “serious misconduct” that led to his resignation in September. 英国石油公司表示，前首席执行官伯纳德·鲁尼将被没收高达3240万英镑(约合4100万美元)的薪酬，原因是导致他9月离职的“严重不当行为”。

The board alleges¹² that Mr Looney misled it about his personal relationships with employees.

公司董事会称鲁尼在与员工的私人关系上误导了董事会。

A federal judge in Texas upheld the state’s ban on public-sector employees using TikTok on government-issued devices. 德克萨斯州的一名联邦法官支持该州禁止公共部门员工在政府发放的设备上使用TikTok的禁令。

The judge found that, although this prevented public universities carrying out research on the Chinese-owned video platform, Texas had an interest in protecting privacy.

这名法官发现，尽管这项禁令阻止了公立大学在中国人所有的视频平台上进行研究，但德克萨斯州却热衷于保护隐私。

The ruling is narrower in scope than the recent decision by a judge in Montana to impose an injunction on a total statewide-ban on TikTok there.

德克萨斯州这项裁决的范围比最近蒙大拿州一名法官做出的裁决范围小，蒙大拿州这名法官判决在全州范围内全面禁止TikTok。

The European Union’s member states and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on regulating the use of artificial intelligence, the details of which are now being worked out by officials. 欧盟成员国和欧洲议会就规范人工智能的使用达成了一项临时协议，目前官员们正在制定协议细节。

The deal includes mandates¹³ to assess the risks from large language models that power AI tools such as ChatGPT and measures to mitigate¹⁴ them. 该协议包括评估大型语言模型(支持ChatGPT等人工智能工具)带来的风险的授权，以及减轻相关风险的措施。

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, warned that the new act could stifle¹⁵ innovation at European firms.

法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙警告称，这项新法案可能会扼杀欧洲企业的创新。

1 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

2 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

3 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

4 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。

5 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

8 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

9 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

10 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

11 forfeit   

vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物

参考例句：

• If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎，就会失掉大家对你的好感。
• Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。

12 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

13 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

14 mitigate   

vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和

参考例句：

• The government is trying to mitigate the effects of inflation.政府正试图缓和通货膨胀的影响。
• Governments should endeavour to mitigate distress.政府应努力缓解贫困问题。

15 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。