TED演讲:企业垄断的新时代(4)

 And that sort of fairness is more important than we may sometimes realize. 这种公平性有时比我们认为的更重要。

Very few people think about politics all the time. 很少人成天思考政治。

Some even skip it at election¹ time. 有些人甚至忽略选举活动。

But we are all in the market. Every day, we are in the market. 但我们都置身于市场中。每一天，我们都在市场里。

And we don't want businesses to agree on prices in the back office. 我们不希望企业背地里制定统一价格。

We don't want them to divide the market between them. 我们不希望他们在彼此之间分割市场。

We don't want one big company just to shut out competitors from ever showing us what they can do. 我们不希望一家大公司打压屏蔽其他对手，不给它们表现的机会。

If that happens, well, obviously², we feel that someone has cheated us, 如果这种事发生了，显然我们会感到被欺骗，

that we are being ignored or taken for granted³ by the market. 被忽略或不被市场重视。

And that may undermine⁴ not only our trust in the market but also our trust in the society. 这不只危害我们对市场的信任，也危害我们对社会的信任。

In a recent survey, more than two-thirds of Europeans said that they had felt the effects of lack of competition: 最近一项调查显示，超过2/3的欧洲人感受到缺乏竞争的影响：

that the price for electricity was too high, that the price for the medicines they needed was too high, 电费过高，所需的药价格也过高，

that they had no real choice if they wanted to travel by bus or by plane, or they got poor service from their internet provider. 如果他们想乘公交或搭飞机旅行，他们并没有真正的选择机会，他们互联网提供商给予差劲的服务等等。

In short, they found that the market didn't treat them fairly. 简而言之，他们发现市场交易并不公平。

And that might seem like very small things, but they can give you this sense that the world isn't really fair. 乍看之下，这些都是小事，但它们可以给你一种这个世界并不公平的感觉。

And they see the market, which was supposed to serve everyone, become more like the private property of a few powerful companies. 他们看出本该是服务大众的市场，变得像少数大公司的私有财产。

 

1 election   

n.选举，选择权；当选

参考例句：

• There is no doubt but that he will win the election.毫无疑问，他将在竞选中获胜。
• The government will probably fall at the coming election.在即将到来的大选中，该政府很可能要垮台。

2 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

3 granted   

conj.假定，就算v.（退一步）承认( grant的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指正式地或法律上）同意；准许；让渡

参考例句：

• The president granted a general amnesty for all political prisoners. 总统大赦了所有的政治犯。
• She feared she would not be granted re-entry into Britain. 她担心不会获准再次踏足英伦。

4 undermine   

vt.暗中破坏，逐渐削弱，侵蚀…的基础

参考例句：

• She tried to undermine our friendship.她试图破坏我们的友谊。
• Rivers undermine their banks.河水冲刷堤基。