VOA慢速英语2010-Economics Report - 'Net Neutrality,' Gene

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Two rulings in the United States could change how information is controlled online and in our bodies.

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in Washington ruled that current laws limit government power over Internet traffic.

The court rejected an order against America's biggest cable company. In two thousand seven, officials ordered Comcast to stop interfering¹ with file-sharing programs used by its Internet customers. Comcast said big files slowed its network.

All three judges agreed that the Federal Communications Commission had no legal basis to tell Comcast what to do. The F.C.C. supervises communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. But its power over Internet and wireless² communications has long been questioned.

Now, unless Congress changes the law, network providers can slow or block services of competitors.

An appeals court ruled that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission lacked the power to tell cable provider Comcast to treat all content equally in its Internet service

The decision comes just weeks after the F.C.C. announced its National Broadband Plan. The aim is faster, lower-cost connections for almost all Americans.

The F.C.C. says the court "in no way disagreed with the importance of preserving a free and open Internet." The agency could seek new powers to regulate Internet service and enforce net neutrality. That is the idea that all content on the Web should be treated equally.

In a different case, a ruling last week in New York has renewed debate about who can "own" genetic³ information.

Myriad⁴ Genetics received patents for methods to identify women with genes⁵ that create a high risk of breast cancer. Patents involving the two genes made Myriad the only company able to offer the costly⁶ tests.

But federal Judge Robert Sweet cancelled seven of twenty-three patents related to the genes. He said they violate the law against patents for products of nature.

Yet companies and universities often claim human genes as intellectual property. An estimated twenty percent of human genes have been patented in the United States.

Judge Sweet said the patent office thinks DNA⁷ should be treated like any other chemical compound. The idea is that its removal from the body and purification makes it into something different that can be patented.

The judge said many consider this a "lawyer's trick" to avoid the ban on the direct patenting of DNA, but the result is the same.

Cancer activists⁸ and researchers fought the patents. Myriad is appealing the ruling.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

　
 

1 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

5 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

6 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

7 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

8 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》