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The hearing was made more bizarre by Mr. Bezos, Mr. Cook, Mr. Pichai and Mr. Zuckerberg
由于贝佐斯、库克、皮查伊和扎克伯格四人都是通过思科的Webex视频会议服务远程出席听证会的，
dialing in remotely using Cisco's Webex videoconferencing service.
此次听证会就显得更加离奇了。
Lawmakers—who mostly appeared in person wearing masks in a House hearing room —
议员们——大多都戴着口罩亲自出现在了众议院的听证室里——
faced empty chairs and a jumbo screen with the faces of the executives, who looked soberly into their cameras.
面对的只是一排排空荡荡的椅子和一个巨大的屏幕，屏幕上弹出的是高管们的面孔，他们无不是神情凝重地看着自己的相机。
Lawmakers nonetheless drilled down on key moments when the companies
尽管如此，议员们还是深入到了这些公司逐渐做大做强，
had gained power or allegedly squeezed consumers, competitors and small businesses.
或是据传存在挤压消费者、挤压竞争对手，挤压小企业的关键节点。
They directed most of their questions to Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Pichai, then to Mr. Bezos,
《纽约时报》的统计显示，议员们将大部分问题的矛头都指向了扎克伯格和皮查伊，
according to a tally by The New York Times.
然后是贝佐斯。
Mr. Cook was asked the fewest questions.
库克被问到的问题最少。
The tone of the hearing was set with Mr. Cicilline's very first question, directed at Mr. Pichai.
（众议院反垄断委员会主席）西西林针对皮查伊问出第一个问题时，此次听证会的基调就已尘埃落定。
"Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?" Mr. Cicilline asked.
“谷歌为什么要窃取诚实的企业的内容？”西西林问道。
Mr. Pichai replied: "Mr. Chairman, with respect, I disagree with that characterization."
皮查伊回答：“主席先生，恕我直言，我不同意这种说法。”
Mr. Zuckerberg was asked about Facebook emails
扎克伯格被问到的是有关电子邮件的问题，
where executives discussed the company's 2012 acquisition of Instagram as a possible strategy to take out a nascent competitor.
那些邮件是2012年Facebook高管们讨论收购Instagram一事的邮件，委员会认为收购可能是他们消灭某新兴竞争对手的策略。
Mr. Zuckerberg said that, in fact, Instagram's success had never been guaranteed
扎克伯格辩解称，事实上，Instagram的成功从来就不是必然，
and was the result of Facebook's investment in the product.
而是Facebook投资的结果。
When lawmakers asked Mr. Bezos if Amazon had bullied small merchants,
当议员们问及贝佐斯亚马逊是否存在欺负小商家的行为时，
he said that it was "not how we operate the business" —
他说，那“不是我们经营业务的方式”——
before being confronted by an audio recording of a bookseller begging him directly for relief.
随后，议员们拿出了一段录音与他对峙，那是一名书商求贝佐斯帮帮他的录音。
In response to questions about whether Apple favored some app developers over others,
在回答有关苹果公司是否对某些app开发商青眼有加，对其他开发商就冷眼相待时，
Mr. Cook said there were "open and transparent rules" that applied "evenly to everyone."
库克说，他们有“公开、透明的规则”，“平等适用于所有开发商”。
David Heinemeier Hansson, the co-founder of Basecamp,
大卫·海纳麦尔·汉森，
a project-management company that has battled with both Google and Apple over their market power,
一直在与谷歌和苹果争夺市场势力的项目管理公司Basecamp的联合创始人，
said the hearing would be irrelevant if the government did not act to rein in the tech giants.
他表示，如果政府不采取行动约束这些科技巨头，就等于听证会离题了。
"What we ultimately need is relief. We don't just need a historic moment.
“说到底，我们需要的是解脱，而不仅仅是一个历史性的时刻。
We need this to lead to legislation and regulation and enforcement," he said.
我们需要这次听证会能促成立法、监管和执法，”他说。
But, Mr. Heinemeier Hansson added, "thankfully I've never been more optimistic for that than I am right now."
不过，海纳麦尔·汉森接着又说，“万幸的是，我对这一天有信心，比以往任何时候都有信心。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
