商务英语阅读材料
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BEC商务英语阅读材料：欧洲六国对谷歌采取联合行动
Europe's largest data-protection authorities have launched a joint action against Google to force it to remedy alleged breaches of EU privacy rules by the search giant.
The move by data-protection authorities from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands is the first co-ordinated and formal procedure by EU states against a single company on privacy, underscoring European frustration with Google.
European watchdogs can currently impose only fines below €1m but new EU-wide rules could soon empower them to inflict on companies penalties up to 2 per cent of their global annual turnover.
In Google's case that would add up to about $760m, based on its 2011 revenues. The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.
The move comes five months after a probe led byCNIL, the French watchdog representing EU regulators, concluded that Google had failed to give users adequate information about how their personal data were being used across its multiple platforms.
Google responded that its privacy policy respected European law. "We have engaged fully with the data-protection authorities involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," it said in a statement.
The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.
The US group said its new privacy terms, which combine 60 former policies into one for all its customers, would allow it to provide a better service. Google Now, which provides intuitive updates based on calendar entries, location patterns and e-mails, is one example of a service making use of the new approach.
The case is being closely watched by several US tech companies and in particular Microsoft, which is currently being investigated by European regulators on issues relating to its online services.
学习指南：
1.Word of the day
watchdog: A person or group whose job is to protect people's rights, especially in relation to large companies 监督人/组织
小编注：watchdog解释为监督人，从字面意思来看很容易联想到看门狗，确实相当形象。监督部门就如看门口一样，忠心耿耿地为雇主看家护院，提防坏人得逞。
2.Phrase of the day
joint action: joint action指的是联合行动，joint有“共同，共有”的意思，比如：
ex:Have you and your husband got a joint account?
例句：你跟你先生有没有联合账户?
小编注：“合资公司”叫joint venture，“联合部队”叫joint force。和joint有关的还有一个习语：out of joint，直译为：脱臼。或引申为脱节，混乱，不协调等。比如：The time is out of joint. 时代脱了节;时代动荡不安。
3.Sentence of the day
The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.
新规有望在今年年底之前获得欧盟立法机构和各成员国的批准。
小编注：lawmaker解释为立法者，这并不难理解。英文中类似这样的构词形式有很多，比如违法者叫lawbreaker， 捣蛋鬼叫troublemaker。
4.Cultural point of the day
欧盟与谷歌 最新的消息是谷歌已经向欧盟提交了和解方案，正式作出妥协。众所周知，谷歌会收集一些用户的信息，比如你搜索了些什么，你对什么类型的网页有兴趣，甚至你所处的位置，这些信息是非常有用的，因为谷歌可以根据你的喜好为你提供搜索建议，对谷歌本身而言，也可以更精准的投放广告获得盈利。但类似的信息收集系统在欧盟眼里显然并不受欢迎，欧盟坚持认为谷歌的行为触犯了欧洲的隐私法律。这已经不是谷歌第一次在欧盟踩到钉子了，之前因为垄断和街景等问题已多次被欧盟起诉。你认为欧盟为什么要针对谷歌呢?对于谷歌和欧盟的矛盾，你有什么看法呢?
5.Translation of the day
The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.
总部位于加利福尼亚的谷歌，自开始合并多项服务(如电子邮件Gmail和视频网站YouTube)的客户数据以来，其隐私政策就一直受到强烈批评。仅YouTube就拥有逾10亿用户的数据。
小编注：这句话重点在于对which指代内容的把握。虽然which前面出现了Gmail和YouTube两样事物，但通过后面的alone我们知道这里的which指代的只是YouTube而已。
Europe's largest data-protection authorities have launched a joint action against Google to force it to remedy alleged breaches of EU privacy rules by the search giant.
欧洲几个大国的数据保护主管部门发起针对谷歌(Google)的联合行动，要求该搜索巨擘就所谓违反欧盟隐私规则的行为采取补救措施。
The move by data-protection authorities from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands is the first co-ordinated and formal procedure by EU states against a single company on privacy, underscoring European frustration with Google.
由英国、德国、法国、意大利、西班牙以及荷兰数据保护主管部门发起的这一行动，是欧盟国家首次在隐私问题上对一家公司协同启动正式程序。这件事突显出欧洲方面对谷歌的不满。
European watchdogs can currently impose only fines below €1m but new EU-wide rules could soon empower them to inflict on companies penalties up to 2 per cent of their global annual turnover.
欧洲监管机构目前只能开出不到100万欧元的罚单。不过，覆盖整个欧盟的新规则，可能很快就会使它们有权对企业作出相当于其2%全球年营业额的处罚。
In Google's case that would add up to about $760m, based on its 2011 revenues. The new rules could be approved by the end of this year by EU lawmakers and member states.
就谷歌而言，这意味着按该公司2011年的营收计算，它可能将面对高达7.60亿美元的罚单。新规有望在今年年底之前获得欧盟立法机构和各成员国的批准。
The move comes five months after a probe led byCNIL, the French watchdog representing EU regulators, concluded that Google had failed to give users adequate information about how their personal data were being used across its multiple platforms.
5个月前，由法国监管机构“国家信息与自由委员会”(CNIL)代表欧盟监管机构牵头展开的一项调查得出结论称，谷歌未能向用户提供充分信息、以让他们了解自己的个人数据在谷歌的多个平台之间如何被使用。
Google responded that its privacy policy respected European law. "We have engaged fully with the data-protection authorities involved throughout this process, and we'll continue to do so going forward," it said in a statement.
谷歌的回应是，其隐私政策是尊重欧洲法律的。“我们在整个过程中全面配合相关数据保护主管部门的工作，并将继续这么做，”该公司在一份声明中表示。
The Mountain View-based group has faced intense criticism for its privacy policy since it first moved to merge customer data held across its various services such as Gmail and YouTube, which alone holds the data of more than 1bn users.
总部位于加利福尼亚的谷歌，自开始合并多项服务(如电子邮件Gmail和视频网站YouTube)的客户数据以来，其隐私政策就一直受到强烈批评。仅YouTube就拥有逾10亿用户的数据。
The US group said its new privacy terms, which combine 60 former policies into one for all its customers, would allow it to provide a better service. Google Now, which provides intuitive updates based on calendar entries, location patterns and e-mails, is one example of a service making use of the new approach.
这家美国集团称，其新版隐私条款将以前的60项政策整合为一项面向所有客户的政策，使其能够提供更好的服务。基于日历条目、位置规律和电子邮件内容提供智能信息提示的Google Now，就是使用这种新政策的服务之一。
The case is being closely watched by several US tech companies and in particular Microsoft, which is currently being investigated by European regulators on issues relating to its online services.
谷歌一案受到数家美国科技公司的密切关注，尤其是微软(Microsoft)。微软正受到欧洲监管机构的调查，因为它以类似于谷歌的方式修改了隐私政策。
BEC商务英语阅读材料：雅虎天价收购少年研发应用
Yahoo pays $30-million for an iPhone app that has no revenue and is made by a teenager and this is what counts as product buzz at the $25-billion internet giant? That is not to say the backstory is uninteresting. Nick D’Aloisio as a boy in London teaches himself to code. He then invents a program called Summly that truncates news articles for the impatient mobile phone set. Later the free-to-download program quickly attracts some glittering backers and ultimately 1 million downloads.
But Yahoo plans to shutter the app so why pay $30-million or $30 per user? (Recall a year ago Facebook paid roughly that price per user – $1-billion in total – for the photo app Instagram that also lacked revenue but did represent a growing and passionate community). For one, Yahoo gets the summarisation algorithm that Mr D’Aloisio created with SRI International, the Silicon Valley lab that had originated the Siri personal assistant technology embedded in iPhones. Yahoo also gets the services of Mr D’Aloisio for the next 18 months. Mostly, it gets to show momentum in mobile technology to users and investors, but also to the developer talent that must believe working for Yahoo is as cool as working at Google or Twitter or any currently unknown pre-IPO start-up.
Yahoo’s struggles in traditional internet search and advertising are well-documented but with the mobile environment still up for grabs, it has the chance to redeem itself there. The company does have strong content portfolio and its 186 million U.S. monthly unique visitors, according to comScore, surprisingly is ahead of Facebook and only slightly trails Google. And the stock is up 50 per cent since Marissa Mayer took the helm in July (though half of its equity value is tied to non-core Asian investments). It could be time to consider buying one of those web or mobile players, say Hulu, run by a full-fledged grown-up.
学习指南：
1.Word of the day
algorithm: An algorithm is a series of mathematical steps, especially in a computer program, which will give you the answer to a particular kind of problem or question. (尤指电脑程序中的)算法
2.Phrase of the day
counts as: If something counts or is counted as a particular thing, it is regarded as being that thing, especially in particular circumstances or under particular rules.(尤指在特定环境中或在特定规则下)将……看做，将……视为
ex1:No one agrees on what counts as a desert.
例句一：关于沙漠的界定，众说纷纭。
ex2:Any word that's not legible will be counted as wrong.
例句二：任何无法辨认的词都将被视为错字。
3.Sentence of the day
Yahoo’s struggles in traditional internet search and advertising are well-documented but with the mobile environment still up for grabs, it has the chance to redeem itself there.
雅虎在传统互联网搜索与广告领域遭遇的困境已无需赘述。但移动领域目前仍处于群雄逐鹿的状态，雅虎有机会在这一领域一雪前耻。
小编注：up for grabs是一个英语习语，grab有“抢夺”“夺取”的意思，这个习语按照字面意思，就是有一个东西在那里，供人们随意抓取，谁抢到就是谁的。这里翻译成群雄逐鹿是非常合适的。需要注意的是这个短语总是以复数形式出现，不能说成up for grab。
4.Cultural point of the day
年仅17岁的CEO。17岁的英国男孩达洛席欧(Nick D’Aloisio)是这篇新闻的主人公，他开发出了新闻摘要软件Summly，一举成名，并创办了同名公司。这位令人羡艳的小伙子的成功并不是偶然的，在他12岁那年，Apple的iPhone应用商店开张，他便去询问工作人员如何学习开发应用程序。靠着网络视频的教程，他自学成才，每年暑假都会开发一款新的app，2011年他设计了可替用户裁切新闻的应用程序Trimit，登上App Store后累计3万人次下载。无论如何，Love&Passion永远是成功的必要因素。
5.Translation of the day
He then invents a program called Summly that truncates news articles for the impatient mobile phone set.
他设计了一款名为Summly的程序，它可以替那些缺乏耐心的移动电话人群将新闻截短。
小编注：原文中用了一个修辞手法，mobile phone set原义为“移动电话设备”，但“设备”显然不会“impatient”，这里指的是用移动电话代指那些用移动电话的人群，译文根据句意翻译了出来。
Yahoo pays $30-million for an iPhone app that has no revenue and is made by a teenager and this is what counts as product buzz at the $25-billion internet giant? That is not to say the backstory is uninteresting. Nick D’Aloisio as a boy in London teaches himself to code. He then invents a program called Summly that truncates news articles for the impatient mobile phone set. Later the free-to-download program quickly attracts some glittering backers and ultimately 1 million downloads.
雅虎(Yahoo)斥资3000万美元，买下一位少年编写的尚未产生任何收入的iPhone应用。在这个市值250亿美元的互联网巨头眼中，这个小产品的价值真有这么高?这并不是说这一收购的幕后故事乏味无趣。伦敦少年尼克•达洛伊西奥(Nick D'Aloisio)通过自学学会了编程。他设计了一款名为Summly的程序，它可以替那些缺乏耐心的移动电话人群将新闻截短。这款免费下载的程序很快吸引了一些成功人士，下载量最终达到了100万。
But Yahoo plans to shutter the app so why pay $30-million or $30 per user? (Recall a year ago Facebook paid roughly that price per user – $1-billion in total – for the photo app Instagram that also lacked revenue but did represent a growing and passionate community). For one, Yahoo gets the summarisation algorithm that Mr D’Aloisio created with SRI International, the Silicon Valley lab that had originated the Siri personal assistant technology embedded in iPhones. Yahoo also gets the services of Mr D’Aloisio for the next 18 months. Mostly, it gets to show momentum in mobile technology to users and investors, but also to the developer talent that must believe working for Yahoo is as cool as working at Google or Twitter or any currently unknown pre-IPO start-up.
不过，雅虎既然打算关闭该应用的下载，那为什么还要为它支付3000万美元，或者说为每个用户掏30美元?记得一年前Facebook购买照片应用Instagram时，也差不多为每个用户支付了这么多(总计10亿美元)——Instagram同样没什么收益，但代表了一个不断成长而且充满活力的网络社区。雅虎收购的一个原因在于，可以得到达洛伊西奥与斯坦福国际咨询研究所(SRI International)共同开发的摘要算法。斯坦福国际咨询研究所正是那家发明嵌入iPhone的Siri个人助理技术的硅谷实验室。另外，雅虎还将获得达洛伊西奥未来18个月的服务。最重要的是，通过这一收购，雅虎不仅向用户和投资者，还向那些开发人才展示出雅虎发展移动技术的强大动力，它希望让这些开发人才相信，为雅虎工作与为谷歌(Google)、推特(Twitter)或任何还不知名的未上市创业公司工作一样酷。
Yahoo’s struggles in traditional internet search and advertising are well-documented but with the mobile environment still up for grabs, it has the chance to redeem itself there. The company does have strong content portfolio and its 186 million U.S. monthly unique visitors, according to comScore, surprisingly is ahead of Facebook and only slightly trails Google. And the stock is up 50 per cent since Marissa Mayer took the helm in July (though half of its equity value is tied to non-core Asian investments). It could be time to consider buying one of those web or mobile players, say Hulu, run by a full-fledged grown-up.
雅虎在传统互联网搜索与广告领域遭遇的困境已无需赘述。但移动领域目前仍处于群雄逐鹿的状态，雅虎有机会在这一领域一雪前耻。雅虎的内容组合十分出色。根据comScore的数据，其在美国每月1.86亿的独立访客数令人惊异地超过了Facebook，只比谷歌低一点。自梅里莎•梅尔(Marissa Mayer)去年7月份掌舵以来，雅虎股价已经上涨了50%(尽管其市值中有一半与非核心业务的亚洲投资关系密切)。如今，收购一个由成熟的成年人运营的互联网或移动领域公司，比如说Hulu，可能正是时候。
BEC商务英语阅读材料：中国成全球第五大武器出口国
China has ousted the UK as the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter, mainly because of sales to Pakistan, according to a new report on global weapons sales.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday said Chinese arms exports rose 162 per cent between 2008 to 2012, propelling China into the top five arms exporting countries for the first time since the cold war. This marks the first time that the UK has not been one of the top five conventional arms exporters since at least 1950, the earliest year covered by Sipri data.
Pakistan accounted for 55 per cent of Chinese arms exports between 2008 and 2012, according to Sipri. During that time, China’s share of global arms exports rose to 5 per cent from 2 per cent in the 2003-2007 period, boosting the country from eighth to fifth place in the global ranking.
“Military exports are one way for China to increase its international status,” said Li Hong, secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. “China needs to increase its influence in regional affairs and from that perspective it needs to increase weapons exports further.”
Chinese defence spending is now second only to US military outlays. At current growth rates, Chinese spending could catch up with the US – which accounts for more than 45 per cent of global military spending – by as early as 2025.
For now, however, Chinese exports lag behind other countries with much smaller populations and economies. The US share of global conventional arms exports is 30 per cent. Russia, meanwhile, accounts for 26 per cent, German exports constitute 7 per cent, and France accounts for 6 per cent.
The rapid expansion in Beijing’s military budget in recent years and a focus on technological advances have raised the sophistication and competitiveness of Chinese weapons. This allowed China to cut the volume of its weapons imports in half between 2008 and 2012, compared with the 2003-2007 period, when it was the world’s largest importer of conventional weapons.
In the 2008-2012 period, China ranked second behind India, with 69 per cent of all Chinese weapons imports originating in Russia. China’s rising influence and military spending have led to growing apprehension in Asia and helped spur large increases in military budgets throughout the region.
According to Sipri, India accounted for 12 per cent of all conventional arms imports between 2008 and 2012, which was more than double Chinese purchases of arms from overseas.
学习指南：
1.Word of the day
oust: If someone is ousted from a position of power, job, or place, they are forced to leave it. 罢黜;把……撤职;驱逐
ex:The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.
例句：这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。
2.Phrase of the day
conventional arms: conventional weapons do not involve nuclear explosives. 常规武器
ex:We must reduce the danger of war by controlling nuclear, chemical and conventional arms.
例句：我们必须通过控制核武器，化学武器和常规武器的数量来减少战争的危险。
小编注：arm指“武器”时，必须使用复数形式“arms”，严格意义上来说，arms与weapons相比更侧重于单个士兵可以操作的武器，同时也可以指整个国家的军备。但现在两者基本可以混用，并不很强调其区别。常规武器指的是无核的武器。
3.Sentence of the day
Chinese defence spending is now second only to US military outlays. At current growth rates, Chinese spending could catch up with the US – which accounts for more than 45 per cent of global military spending – by as early as 2025.
中国军费支出目前仅次于美国。按当前趋势推算，中国军费支出可能最快在2025年就赶上美国(目前美国占全球军费支出逾45%)。
小编注：second to是“仅次于”的意思，如果说second to none，就是天下第一，首屈一指了。catch up with是从后面赶上的意思，需要注意的是和come up with(想到;提出)以及keep up with(始终保持一致;不落后)的区别。
4.Cultural point of the day
军事词汇。由于MAD(Mutual assured destruction 相互保证毁灭)机制的存在，现代世界已经不再有爆发世界大战的可能性了，而军事力量具有压倒性优势的国家也并不一定能够确保局部战争的胜利，因为弱国能够通过很多渠道获得同样先进的常规武器。美国饮恨越南和苏联入侵阿富汗的失败都印证了这一事实。下面是一部分新闻媒体上常见的军事词汇：
ballistic missile 弹道飞弹 battalion 军营;军队 cruise missile 巡航导弹
death toll 死亡人数 collateral damage 附带损害 disarmament 裁军
extremist 极端分子 pullback 撤军 retaliation 报复
更多词汇请看相关阅读：中英对照军事相关词语
5.Translation of the day
The rapid expansion in Beijing’s military budget in recent years and a focus on technological advances have raised the sophistication and competitiveness of Chinese weapons.
近年中国军事预算的快速扩张，加上对先进技术的专注，都提高了中国造武器的技术含量和竞争力。
小编注：sophistication在这里解释为“(机器、方法的)精密;复杂;先进”，这个词还有另一个常用的意思，那就是当形容人时，表示“精明老练”。如：
Swift said the growing sophistication amang biotech investors presented an opportunity for a more specialist investment fund.
斯威夫特说，生物科技领域的投资人越来越精明了，这也为我们获得一个更专业的投资基金提供了机会。
China has ousted the UK as the world’s fifth-largest arms exporter, mainly because of sales to Pakistan, according to a new report on global weapons sales.
一份报告称，中国已取代英国，成为全球第五大武器出口国，主要原因是中国对巴基斯坦军售数量较大。
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday said Chinese arms exports rose 162 per cent between 2008 to 2012, propelling China into the top five arms exporting countries for the first time since the cold war. This marks the first time that the UK has not been one of the top five conventional arms exporters since at least 1950, the earliest year covered by Sipri data.
斯德哥尔摩国际和平研究所(SIPRI)昨日表示，中国武器出口在2008年至2012年期间增长162%，推动中国自冷战以来首次跻身于全球前五大武器出口国之列。同时，这也是至少自1950年(SIPRI数据追踪的最早年份)以来英国首次不在全球五大常规武器出口国之列。
Pakistan accounted for 55 per cent of Chinese arms exports between 2008 and 2012, according to Sipri. During that time, China’s share of global arms exports rose to 5 per cent from 2 per cent in the 2003-2007 period, boosting the country from eighth to fifth place in the global ranking.
根据SIPRI的数据，2008年至2012年，巴基斯坦是中国55%武器出口的目的地国。在此期间，中国占全球武器出口的份额从2003-07年期间的2%升至5%，排名从第8升至第5。
“Military exports are one way for China to increase its international status,” said Li Hong, secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. “China needs to increase its influence in regional affairs and from that perspective it needs to increase weapons exports further.”
“军品出口是中国增强国际地位的方式之一，”中国军控与裁军协会(CACDA)秘书长黎弘表示。“中国需要在地区事务中提高自己的影响力，从这个视角看，中国需要增加武器出口。”
Chinese defence spending is now second only to US military outlays. At current growth rates, Chinese spending could catch up with the US – which accounts for more than 45 per cent of global military spending – by as early as 2025.
中国军费支出目前仅次于美国。按当前趋势推算，中国军费支出可能最快在2025年就赶上美国(目前美国占全球军费支出逾45%)。
For now, however, Chinese exports lag behind other countries with much smaller populations and economies. The US share of global conventional arms exports is 30 per cent. Russia, meanwhile, accounts for 26 per cent, German exports constitute 7 per cent, and France accounts for 6 per cent.
但就目前而言，中国的武器出口仍少于一些人口和经济规模都小得多的国家。美国占全球常规武器出口的30%，俄罗斯占26%，德国占7%，法国占6%。
The rapid expansion in Beijing’s military budget in recent years and a focus on technological advances have raised the sophistication and competitiveness of Chinese weapons. This allowed China to cut the volume of its weapons imports in half between 2008 and 2012, compared with the 2003-2007 period, when it was the world’s largest importer of conventional weapons.
近年中国军事预算的快速扩张，加上对先进技术的专注，都提高了中国造武器的技术含量和竞争力。这使中国在2008-12年期间的武器进口量与2003-07年期间相比减少一半。2003-07年期间中国是全球最大的常规武器进口国。
In the 2008-2012 period, China ranked second behind India, with 69 per cent of all Chinese weapons imports originating in Russia. According to Sipri, India accounted for 12 per cent of all conventional arms imports between 2008 and 2012, which was more than double Chinese purchases of arms from overseas.
2008-12年期间，中国在武器进口量方面排在印度后面，位列第2，中国进口的武器中69%来自俄罗斯。同期印度占全球常规武器进口的12%，比中国的两倍还多。
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