20160308 Battle of the internet giants

[地道表达]##

• Concern about the clout of the internet giants is growing. But antitrust watchdogs should tread carefully
  [clout]
  [解释]Influence; pull; 影响：影响；引力

• Never before has the world seen firms grow so fast or spread their tentacles so widely.
  [tentacle]
  [解释]one of the long thin parts of a sea creature such as an octopus which it uses for holding things;触手

• Apple has become a colossus of capitalism, accounting for 4.3% of the value of the S&P 500 and 1.1% of the global equity market.
  [colossus]someone or something that is extremely big or extremely important;在体积与重要性方面类似于巨像的东西
  [解释]

• Some 425m people now use its iTunes online store, whose virtual shelves are packed to the gills with music and other digital content
  [to the gills]
  [解释]非正式用语, As full as possible; completely; 尽可能完整的；完全的

• The digital revolution these giants have helped foment has brought huge benefits to consumers and businesses, and promoted free speech and the spread of democracy along the way.
  [foment]
  [解释]To promote the growth of; incite.激起：促进…的发展

• The company also stands accused of several other transgressions, including using patents to stymie competition in the smartphone market.
  [stymie]
  [解释]informal to prevent someone from doing what they have planned or want to do;妨碍；阻挠

• the search firm could end up mired in costly legal fights on both sides of the Atlantic.
  [mire]
  [解释]v. To cause to sink or become stuck in or as if in mire.
  使陷入：致使陷入或使陷入泥沼或类似泥沼的境地

• The third concern is the internet behemoths’ habit of gobbling up promising firms before they become a threat.
  [behemoth]
  [解释]Something enormous in size or power.异常巨大或强大的东西

• Their goal has been to get swift settlements with negotiated remedies that curtail bad behavior.
  [curtail]
  [解释]To cut short; abbreviate.See Synonyms at shorten; 截短

• Indeed, the tech world is changing so fast that it brings to mind Joseph Schumpeter's comment about the “perennial gale of creative destruction” that sweeps through economies as innovative insurgents take on entrenched incumbents.
  [perennial]
  [解释]Lasting an indefinitely long time; enduring:持久的：持续很长时间的；持久的
  [gale]
  [解释] A very strong wind.大风
  [insurgent]
  [解释] One that revolts against civil authority.造反者：反抗国内政权的人
  [entrench]
  [解释] To fix firmly or securely:确立，使处于牢固地位
  [incumbent]
  [解释] A person who holds an office or ecclesiastical benefice:任职者：行政部门或教会中的任职者

• If they really want to keep the trustbusters at bay, they should not let their size go to their heads
  [keep sth. at bay]
  [解释]阻止 <敌人、灾难等> 不使接近
  [let sth go to sb's heads]
  [解释] if something that you have achieved goes to your head, it makes you too proud

[句式连接]##

• Smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system have come from nowhere to dominate the market, eclipsing Apple's iPhone.
  [分析] ing结构简洁
  [翻译] 搭配谷歌Android 操作系统的智能手机从无到有再到主导市场，已超越苹果的iPhone。

• Yet they provoke fear as well as wonder
  [分析] 句子里的动词provoke运用很值得学习
  [翻译] 它们在带来惊喜的同时也引发了不安。

• Their size and speed can, if left unchecked, be used to choke off competition.
  [分析] if 结构至于句子的中间表达假设的含义。

• The digital revolution these giants have helped foment has brought huge benefits to consumers and businesses, and promoted free speech and the spread of democracy along the way.
  [分析] digital revolution是主语，these giants have helped forment是修饰主语的从句。
  [翻译] 由四巨头助力而引发的数字革命给消费者和工商业带来了巨大的效益，并且促进了言论自由和民主的传播

[专业知识]

• S&P 500###

[解释] 标准普尔500指数英文简写为S&P 500 Index，是记录美国500家上市公司的一个股票指数。这个股票指数由标准普尔公司创建并维护。
标准普尔500指数覆盖的所有公司，都是在美国主要交易所，如纽约证券交易所、Nasdaq交易的上市公司。与道琼斯指数相比，标准普尔500指数包含的公司更多，因此风险更为分散，能够反映更广泛的市场变化。

• European Commission###

[解释] 欧盟委员会（英语：European Commission；法语：Commission européenne；德语：Europäische Kommission），台湾习称欧盟执委会，源于《1951年巴黎条约》成立的欧洲煤钢共同体的四个重要机构之一的高级公署并由莫内出任第一届主席。
欧盟委员会是欧盟政治体系的执行机构，负责贯彻执行欧盟理事会和欧洲议会的决策。此外，欧盟委员会可以通过行使其主动权就法律规定、政策措施和项目提出建议。欧盟委员会是一个独立于成员国的超国家机构，其委员效力于整个欧盟而不是各自的成员国。

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

[解释] 联邦贸易委员会是一个美国政府独立机构，通过伍德罗·威尔逊签署的反托拉斯的美国法典第15卷第41章联邦贸易委员会法案成立于1914年。其主要任务是保护消费者及消除强迫性垄断的等反竞争性商业行为。

• quasi-monopoly###

[解释] 准垄断，即类似垄断的行为

• Joseph Schumpeter###

[解释] 　美籍奥地利经济学家约瑟夫·熊彼特（Joseph A. Schumpeter， 1883～1950年）对企业家研究最有影响力，他发展了马歇尔的理论。熊彼特在1912年出版的《经济发展理论》一书中指出，企业家就是“经济发展的带头人”， 也是能够“实现生产要素的重新组合”的创新者。熊彼特将企业家视为创新的主体，其作用在于创造性地破坏市场的均衡（他称之为“创造性破坏”）。他认为，动态失衡是健康经济的“常态”（而非古典经济学家所主张的均衡和资源的最佳配置），而企业家正是这一创新过程的组织者和始作俑者。通过创造性地打破市场均衡，才会出现企业家获取超额利润的机会。

• walled garden###

[解释] “围墙花园”指的是一个控制用户对网页内容和服务进行访问的环境。围墙花园一般是把用户限制在一个特定的范围内，允许用户访问指定内容，而防止用户访问其他未被允许的内容。