单词很忙

When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015,it picked two newcomers that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley.Microsoft’s own Office dominates the market for “productivity” software, but the start-ups represented a new wave of technology designed from the ground up for the smartphone world.

Both apps, however, were later scrapped, after Microsoft said it had used their best features in its own products.Their teams of engineers stayed on,making them two of the many “ acqui-hires”that the biggest companies have used to feed their great hunger for tech talent.

To Microsoft’s critics,the fates of Wunderlist and Sunrise are examples of a remorseless drive by Big Tech to chew up any innovative companies that lie in their path. “They bought the seedlings and closed them down,” complained Paul Arnold, a partner at San Francisco-based Switch Ventures, putting an end to businesses that might one day turn into competitors.Microsoft declined to comment.

Like other start-up investors, Mr. Arnold’s own business often depends on selling start-ups to larger tech companies, though he admits to mixed feelings about the result: “I think these things are good for me, if I put my selfish hat on.But are they good for the American economy?I don’t know.”

The US Federal Trade Commission says it wants to find the answer to that question.This week, it asked the five most valuable US tech companies for  information about their many small acquisitions over the past decade.Although only a research project at this stage, the request has raised the prospect of regulators wading into early-stage tech markets that until now have been beyond their reach.

Given their combined market value of more than $5.5 trillion, rifling through such small deals—many of them much less prominent than Wunderlist and Sunrise—might seem beside the point.Between them, the five biggest tech companies have spent an average of only $3.4 billion a year on sub- $ 1 billion acquisitions over the past five years—a drop in the ocean compared with their massive financial reserves, and the more than $130 billion of venture capital that was invested in the US last year.

However, critics say the big companies use such deals to buy their most threatening potential competitors before their businesses have a chance to gain momentum, in some cases as part of a“ buy and kill”tactic to simply close them down.

当微软在2015年收购任务管理应用Wunderlist和移动日历Sunrise时，它选择了两个在硅谷引起相当大反响的新来者。微软自己的Office在“生产力”软件市场占据主导地位，但这些初创企业代表了一波为智能手机世界设计的全新技术浪潮。

然而，这两款应用后来都被取消了，因为微软表示，它在自己的产品中使用了它们最好的功能。他们的工程师团队留下了，这让他们成为了众多“并购”中的两家，大公司用这些“并购”来满足对科技人才的巨大渴求。

对于微软的批评者来说，Wunderlist和Sunrise的命运是大型科技公司无情地吞噬任何挡在他们道路上的创新公司的例子。总部位于旧金山的Switch V  entures合伙人保罗•阿诺德(Paul Arnold)抱怨说:“他们买下幼苗，然后把它们关了起来。”这样一来，那些可能有一天会变成竞争对手的企业就到头了。微软拒绝置评。

和其他初创企业投资者一样，阿诺德自己的生意往往依赖于把初创企业卖给更大的科技公司，不过他承认，他对这样做的结果有复杂的感受:“我认为，如果我把自私的帽子戴上，这些事情对我是有好处的。”但它们对美国经济有好处吗?我不知道。”

美国联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)表示，希望找到这个问题的答案。本周，该机构向美国最有价值的5家科技公司询问了它们在过去10年进行的许多小型收购的信息。尽管目前只是一个研究项目，但这一要求提高了监管机构涉足早期科技市场的可能性，这些市场迄今为止一直是他们无法触及的。

考虑到它们的总市值超过5.5万亿美元，翻阅这些小交易——其中许多远不如奇才名单和旭日公司引人注目——似乎无关紧要。在过去的五年里，五大科技公司平均每年仅花费34亿美元进行10亿美元以下的收购——与它们庞大的财务储备和去年在美国投资的超过1300亿美元的风险投资相比，这只是沧海一粟。

然而，批评人士表示，大公司利用这类交易，在它们的业务有机会获得发展势头之前，就收购了最具威胁的潜在竞争对手，在某些情况下，这是“买了就杀”策略的一部分，目的是直接关闭它们。

句子成分分析：

When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise [in 2015], || it picked two 

newcomers | that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley.

句子语法结构详解：

(bought 为 buy 的过去式。)

* when 为连词，引导时间状语从句。
* bought 为谓语，采用一般过去时。
* it 为先行主语，代表后移的主语从句。
* picked 为谓语，采用一般过去时。
* that 引导主语从句。
* were 开头为条件状语从句，采用虚拟语气。
* were 为谓语。
* attracting 为现在分词作定语

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

句子成分分析：

Their teams (of engineers) stayed on, making them two (of the many "acqui-hires"that (the biggest companies have 

used to feed their great hunger [for tech talent])).

句子语法结构详解：

(biggest 为 big 的最高级形式)

* stayed 为谓语，采用一般过去时。
* making 为现在分词，作状语。
* making 为双宾动词。them 为间接宾语，two 为直接宾语。
* 第2个 the 开头为定语从句，引导词 that 被省略。
* used 为谓语，采用现在完成时。
* to feed 为不定式，作宾语补足语(或称复合宾语)。
* them 为人称代词宾格。their 为形容词型物主代词。have 为助动词。the 为定冠词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

句子成分分析：

[To Microsoft's critics],the fates (of Wunderlist and Sunrise) are examples (of a remorseless drive) [by Big Tech] to

chew up any innovative companies (that lie in their path).

句子语法结构详解：

* are 为系动词作谓语，采用一般现在时。
* to chew 为不定式，作状语。
* that 为关系代词，引导定语从句。
* lie 为谓语，采用一般现在时。
* their 为形容词型物主代词。Microsoft's 为名词所有格。the 为定冠词。a 为不定冠词。

句子相关词汇解释：

Phrase:

Vocabulary:

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