VOA慢速英语2015 阿里巴巴面临监管机构的批评

 

Alibaba Faces Criticism From Regulators 阿里巴巴面临监管机构的批评

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.

Recently, a Chinese regulatory agency said that most of the goods sold on the Chinese website Alibaba are counterfeit¹. That means the products are not made by the company that is claimed to be the maker².

Alibaba is a website that connects buyers with sellers. The company’s chief, Jack³ Ma, says he has solved the dispute with Chinese officials.

China’s Alibaba Group has become a major Internet company in a short amount of time. Last year, the company raised $25 billion in its IPO, or initial public offering. The company offered stock shares to the public for the first time last September on the New York Stock Exchange.

But recently China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce, SAIC, released a report that said the company has not done enough to stop the Internet sales of illegal goods.

Alibaba’s Executive Chairman, Jack Ma, said this was not true.

"We don't want; we were misunderstood by the world that we're not transparent⁴. We don't want; (we were) misunderstood by the world that Taobao is a platform for selling fake products. And we want this company, I have always said, not to represent China's Internet, it represent the spirit of Internet of the whole world."

The SAIC report said that Alibaba employees took bribes⁶ and permitted merchants to sell illegal wine, handbags and other goods without the required license⁷. It also said an investigation⁸ showed that many of the samples on the Taobao retail⁹ website were not licensed¹⁰ products.

Alibaba runs Taobao. On January 27th, Taobao rejected the study’s findings. The company said the study was unfair.

The next day the SAIC released information about a July meeting between its representatives and Alibaba officials. In the meeting, the SAIC informed Alibaba that counterfeit goods were being sold through the website. The agency also told the company that it had violated marketing¹¹ rules and had a poor consumer rating system.

Later, however, tensions between regulators and Alibaba appeared to ease. The SAIC and Taobao both removed the materials from their websites.

For many years now, Western companies have accused companies in China of stealing intellectual property and selling illegal products.

In recent years, the government has taken steps to deal with those concerns.

Andrew Batson is with the China research company Gavekal Dragonomics. He says it is unclear whether the SAIC’s accusations¹² against Alibaba are related to intellectual property rights.

Chinese officials are also closely watching consumer safety, seeking to stop the sale of fake products after many problems with product safety. A new consumer protection law enacted¹³ last March increases possible payments to those who buy damaged or fake goods.  The State Administration for Industry and Commerce says $610 million worth of poor-quality goods were sold in China from 2010 to 2012.

However, some experts question if the accusations against Alibaba are connected to China’s campaign against fake products. Shaun Rein¹⁴ wrote the book, “The End of Copy Cat China.” He says protecting consumers may be one of the reasons for the regulators’ actions.

“I think part of it is consumer protectionism, part of it though might be to sort of pull Alibaba down.  I think over the last year Jack Ma might have become too powerful according to some areas.  He is taking on vested interests in the financial sector¹⁵, and retail sales, and entertainment, and some might feel he is getting too powerful.”

The SAIC said it waited to release its report on Alibaba until this year so it would not damage the company’s IPO. However, last week, a U.S. law firm announced it was taking action against Alibaba. The lawyers said the company did not tell the public about its communications with the Chinese regulator before the stock offering.

This week, Jack Ma spoke¹⁶ in Hong Kong. He said that the company will be open in its dealings with the legal action. He said the situation should give western observers a better understanding of Alibaba and China.

Words in This Story

regulatory –adj. making or concerned with making official rules about what is acceptable in a particular business, activity, etc.

initial –adj. occurring at the beginning of something

bribe⁵ – n. something valuable (such as money) that is given in order to get someone to do something

sample – n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

consumer – n. a person who buys goods or services

intellectual – adj. relating to something (such as an idea, invention, or process) that comes from a person's mind

counterfeit – adj. made to look like an exact copy of something in order to trick people

merchants – n. people who buy or sell goods

license – n. an official document that gives someone official permission to do, use or have something

1 counterfeit   

vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的

参考例句：

• It is a crime to counterfeit money.伪造货币是犯罪行为。
• The painting looked old but was a recent counterfeit.这幅画看上去年代久远，实际是最近的一幅赝品。

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

4 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

5 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

6 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

9 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

10 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

12 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

13 enacted   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• legislation enacted by parliament 由议会通过的法律
• Outside in the little lobby another scene was begin enacted. 外面的小休息室里又是另一番景象。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

14 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。