Europe v Google: Not so Froogle
欧盟VS谷歌：并不如意
The European Commission levies a huge fine onGoogle for abusing its dominance on online search.
欧盟委员会对谷歌滥用搜索引擎巨头地位征收巨额罚款。
SHE was born to Lutheran ministers known to be both tough and principled.
她出生于以强硬和原则著称的路德教部长家。
As a child, she thought it unfair that pupils were not allowed to sell fruit and milk in school andsuccessfully lobbied for change.
小时候，她认为学生不允许在学校里卖水果和牛奶这个规定是不公平，并且成功地游说改变了这个规定。
In her office in Brussels she keeps a statue of a raised middle finger, a gift from a trade unionwhen she was deputy prime minister of Denmark, as a reminder that there will always becritics.
在她在布鲁塞尔的办公室里放着一尊举起的中指雕塑，这是她当上丹麦的副总理从工会那里得到的礼物，这个礼物提醒着她无论做什么都总会有批评。
It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Margrethe Vestager, the European Union'scompetition commissioner, took a tough line against Google this week.
不难预料，身为欧盟竞争委员的玛格丽特·韦斯塔格会对谷歌采取强硬的措施。
The size of the fine the tech giant will have to pay for abusing its monopoly in online search, 2.4bn euro ($2.7bn), sets a record for European antitrust penalties.
规模庞大的科技巨头将不得不为它滥用在线搜索的巨头地位付出代价，而24亿欧元(27亿美元)创下欧洲反垄断处罚纪录。
Yet more important than the amount is that she provided a rough guide to how the EuropeanCommission plans to deal with online firms which not only dominate a market, but essentiallyare the market.
然而更重要的是她对于欧洲委员会计划如何处理线上公司提供了一个简略的方向，线上公司不仅支配市场本质上它们就是市场。
In the 2000s Microsoft got into trouble because it had expanded its Windows monopoly bybundling it with its web browser.
在2000年左右，微软因为它通过将其捆绑在网页浏览器上进一步扩大了Windows垄断而陷入了困境。
By comparison, Google's infraction seems minor.
相比之下，谷歌的违规行为似乎微不足道。
In 2002 it launched a price-comparison service called Froogle, later renamed GoogleShopping.
在2002年它发动了价格比较服务叫做购物搜索，后来改名为谷歌购物。
In 2008 it changed how this service works.
到了2008年，它改变了这项服务的运作方式。
According to the commission, the new version systematically favoured Google's owncomparison-shopping results by giving them prominent placement at the top of its genericsearch results and demoting links to rival offerings to pages further down in its results, whereusers hardly venture.
根据证监会的调查，新的系统会有意偏心谷歌自己的比较购物搜索服务，因为它在常规搜索结果里把其服务放到显眼的高位，而将竞争对手的产品页面链接进一步下降到用户几乎不会浏览到的位置。
This would not be a problem if there were several bigsearch engines.
如果有几个大型的搜索引擎这就不成问题了。
But Google's market share in most Europeancountries exceeds 90%.
但谷歌在大多数欧洲国家的市场份额超过了90%。
When the firm introduced the changes, traffic torival websites, such as Britain's Foundem, plunged.
当公司引入这个变化，其他竞争对手的网站如英国的Foundem浏览量将会暴跌。
This denied other firms the chance to compete and reduced consumer choice, said MsVestager.
“这种不给其他公司竞争的机会的行为将减少消费者的选择。”维斯特格委员说道。
Google has 90 days to find a way to treat its own comparison-shopping service and those ofrivals equally.
谷歌有90天时间去找到一种合理方法来对待自己的价格比较购物服务和竞争对手的购物服务。
Predictably, Google wants none of this.
可以预见的是，谷歌不想这样做。
It says its search service is far less dominant than it appears: consumers look up products onmany other sites, including Amazon and eBay (the commission did not count these as searchengines).
它说它的搜索服务远不如它看起来占优势消费者在许多其他网站上搜索产品，包括亚马逊和易趣网(委员会没有把这些算作搜索引擎。)
Google also notes that the changes made in 2008 benefited consumers.
谷歌还指出2008年的变化使消费者受益。
“People usually prefer links that take them directly to the products they want,” Kent Walker, thefirm's general counsel, wrote in a blog post.
该公司的总顾问肯特·沃克在他的一篇博客中写道“人们通常喜欢直接链接到他们想要的产品的链接。”
Here, Google appears to have a point.
关于这点，谷歌似乎有其道理。
Why would consumers want to click on a link which leads them to another site if they can seeproducts and prices neatly lined up above Google's search results?
假如消费者能在谷歌搜索结果上看到整齐排列的产品和价格，他们还会想点击一个将他们带到另一个网站的链接吗?
The European Court of Justice, the EU's highest court, will have to weigh the merits of itsargument.
欧洲最高法院——欧洲法院将不得不权衡其论点的是非曲直。
Google will appeal, and there are weaknesses in the commission's case, such as the difficultyof proving real consumer harm from the treatment of other price-comparison sites.
谷歌将上诉而委员会的案例也存在弱点，例如难以证明其他价格比较网站带给消费者的实际伤害。
Yet the commission deserves credit for tackling a question, which is increasingly importantbut which American trust busting agencies have avoided: what is the responsibility ofdominant online firms, including Amazon and Facebook, when direct competitors, large andsmall, offer products and services on their platforms?
然而委员会直面解决这个越来越重要的问题是有功劳的，这美国反垄断机构却选择了逃避，当直接的竞争对手，无论大的小的，在占主导地位的网络公司的平台上提供的产品和服务，包括亚马逊和脸书，那他们的责任是什么?
The prevailing wisdom, particularly in America, used to be that “super-platforms”, despitetheir size, do not unfairly use their market power and thrive because of their unceasinginnovation.
盛行的智能化特别是在美国曾经是“超级平台”，尽管他们规模庞大，但不会因其不断创新而不公平地利用他们的市场力量和繁荣。
The competition is always just one click away, argues Herbert Hovenkamp of the University ofPennsylvania.
宾夕法尼亚大学的Herbert Hovenkamp认为竞争永远只是一个点击之遥。
重点词组：
1.middle finger 中指
例句:He wears a ring on his middle finger.
他中指上戴着指环。
2.deal with 处理;应付
例句:When I worked in Florida I dealt with Britishpeople all the time.
在佛罗里达工作时，我总与英国人有生意往来。
3.got into trouble 陷入困境
例句:I got into trouble for being late.
由于迟到，我有麻烦了。
4.By comparison 相比之下
例句:The rest of the arts scene looks increasingly turgid by comparison.
比较而言，艺术界的其他领域看起来越发索然无味。
5.look up 查询
例句:Many people have to look up the meaning ofthis word in the dictionary.
这个词的意思很多人都要查字典才知道。
6.highest court 最高法院
例句:The nation's highest court reversed the lower court's decision.
该国最高法院已推翻了下级法院的判决。
7.general counsel 总顾问
例句:This is meant to be a race to become America's chief executive, not its general counsel.
这场竞赛本应是争当美国的首席执行官，而不是争当首席法律顾问。
8.lined up 排队
例句:When he came back the sergeant had lined up the terrorists.
他回来时，中士已经让恐怖分子列队站好了。
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