奇速英语阅读理解：今天和广大英语阅读爱好者分享的主题是全球四大互联网公司最大的敌人是谁？美国的反垄断检察官们正在对谷歌、亚马逊、脸书和苹果公司进行调查。

　　American trustbustersare rattling Google,Amazon,Facebook and Apple

　　美国的反垄断检察官们正在对谷歌、亚马逊、脸书和苹果公司进行调查

　　SHARES IN THE biggest internet firms took a nasty tumble on June 3rd,after weekend reports suggested American authorities were limbering up to scrutinise their business models.Just four—Amazon,Facebook,Apple and Alphabet—lost$134bn in market capitalisation in a day,not far off the entire worth of Netflix(which also fell).

　　6月3日，几家最大的互联网公司的股票大跌，因为此前的一个周末报道称美国当局正准备审查他们的商业模式。仅仅亚马逊(amazon)、脸书(Facebook)、苹果(Apple)和谷歌母公司(alphabet)这四家公司在一天之内市值就蒸发了1340亿美元，这个数值与整个网飞(Netflix)的总市值(Netflix也出现了下跌)也相差不远。

　　Dealing with competition quibbles is hardly new for Big Tech.European trustbusters have been on their case for two decades.Even whopping fines there have barely registered with investors(see chart).Alphabet,which owns Google,has coughed up$9.5bn across three cases over the past two years(it is appealing).Its valuation rose each time.News of a preliminary probe into Amazon in September dented its share price much less than poor earnings unveiled soon after.

　　对大型科技公司来说，应对竞争方面的吹毛求疵并不新鲜，欧洲反垄断机构在这个问题上已经坚持了20年。但即使是巨额罚款也很少被投资者注意到(见图表)。谷歌母公司在过去两年中为三起案件支付了95亿美元(这笔费用颇具吸引力)，但它的估值每一次都在上升。9月份对亚马逊展开初步调查的消息，对其股价的影响，远小于随后公布的糟糕业绩。

　　This time is different.The 4.5%drop in the four giants’market value suggests investors are more worried.Possibly meatier American fines are not the reason:the billions Google has been forced to pay represent less than a tenth of the$134bn in profits it has generated since the first case was opened in November 2010.Even higher penalties can be written off as a cost of doing business.

　　不过这次不同了，而且四大科技公司平均市值4.5%的下跌表明了投资者更加地担忧。原因可能不是美国更严厉的罚款：自2010年11月第一起案件开审以来，谷歌已经被迫支付的数十亿美元利润，但这还不到其1340亿美元利润的十分之一。甚至更高的罚金也可以作为做生意的成本一笔勾销。

　　More likely,shareholders fret that American authorities could force the firms to change their money-spinning business models.In his confirmation hearing William Barr,America’s attorney-general,said he wanted to“find out more”about how Apple and others had grown so big.Elizabeth Warren,a senator and Democratic presidential hopeful,has said that Facebook should be broken up.If America is picking up where Europe left off,investors are right to be concerned.

　　而更有可能的是，股东们担心美国当局会迫使这些公司改变他们赚钱的商业模式。在他的任命听证会上，美国司法部长威廉·巴尔表示，他想“了解更多”关于苹果和其他公司是如何发展到如此之大的。参议员、民主党总统候选人伊丽莎白•沃伦曾表示，脸书应该被拆分。如果美国能在欧洲停滞不前的地方重振旗鼓，投资者的确有理由对此感到担忧。

　　对大型科技公司来说，应对竞争方面的吹毛求疵并不新鲜，欧洲反垄断机构在这个问题上已经坚持了20年。但即使是巨额罚款也很少被投资者注意到。更多奇速英语阅读资讯，请持续关注奇速英语官网：www.qisuabc.com