新西兰英语 548 Internet Piracy

 　　Four men were arrested yesterday and charged with internet piracy¹ of movies and TV shows. Their website MegaUpload was a file-sharing website, with 50 million hits daily. It was based in Hong Kong. One of the founders³ of the website, a man who calls himself Kim Dotcom (his original name was Kim Schmitz) has been living a life of luxury in a mansion⁴ near Auckland. Police waited until people arrived for a party and then they arrested Dotcom and three others. Along with the New Zealand police were FBI agents. The arrested men will probably be extradited to the US where they will face charges of internet piracy. Makers⁵ of films which were uploaded say they have lost US$500 million because people did not pay for copyright. Kim Dotcom, however, is a multi-millionaire. He owns 18 luxury cars worth a total of $6m.

　　Three of the men arrested are from Germany and one from The Netherlands. Two of the men are New Zealand residents. There were some arrests in other countries also of people involved in MegaUpload.

　　The Labour Party spokesperson for Immigration is asking the Minister of Immigration how two of these men managed to get New Zealand residency.

　　Vocabulary

　　piracy: Although we think of pirates as sailors who steal from ships at sea, internet piracy is also stealing. Making an illegal copy of a movie and selling it is piracy.

　　founder² – someone who first starts a company

　　original – the name he was first given as a child

　　luxury – expensive things or life style

　　mansion – an expensive house. Dotcom’s mansion is worth $30m.

　　extradited – New Zealand has an extradition⁶ treaty with the US which means we can send anyone suspected of breaking an American law to the US for trial. The verb is usually passive

　　copyright – the owner of a book or film holds the copyright. If anyone wants to copy a book or film, they must pay copyright fees to the owner. Usually no one is allowed to copy a book or film.

　　spokesperson – the official person who speaks for that department

1 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

4 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

5 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。