"Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth." So Archimedes explained the power of levers in the physical world. The

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问题     "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the Earth." So Archimedes explained the power of levers in the physical world. The digital realm has levers of its own: "platforms," the technological point of support upon which many businesses can be built. Control of an important platform is a source of economic power. Microsoft used the power of its Windows operating-system platform to shape the destiny of an entire industry—and to capture an outsized share of its profits. Some worry that Google’s dominance of the web-search business lets it perform a similar trick today.
    Europe is not leaving it to chance. On April 15th the European Commission sent a "statement of objections" to Google, accusing it of abusing its dominant position in the internet-search market and reviving an antitrust case that has dragged on for five years. In Europe Google handles more than 90% of web searches, making it the place to be for many advertisers. Whether it has harmed consumers by using its dominant platform to steer them away from rival services and towards its own, such as Google Shopping, is at the heart of the case.
    Europe is discovering its failure to develop many of the platforms underlying the online economy. Much of the world’s digital territory has in effect been occupied by America without a fight. The big danger is that as the world relies ever more on technological platforms operated by Google and other American firms, they may be able to repeat this trick in areas that have hitherto been Europe’s strong point: fashion, energy and luxury vehicles, for instance. "We might invest in producing wonderful cars, but those selling the new services for the car would be making the money."
    Rather than trying to rein in American firms, European politicians should focus on fixing what is holding back the old world’s most promising platforms: the lack of a common digital market. Today only 15% of consumers shop online across borders within the EU. To set up Europe-wide operations, an e-commerce firm has to jump through numerous bureaucratic rings, from tax rules to labor laws, in each country. Also, the digital strategies available are so far short on substance. If Europe wants to be America’s equal in the creation of new technological platforms, it needs to recognize the importance of scale. America, with its large and open domestic market, has it. Europe does not.
According to Paragraph 1, there is the concern that Google will_______.

选项 A、possibly dominate the entire industry of web-search
B、replace Microsoft as the most profitable company
C、exercise monopoly over the IT industry in Europe
D、try to establish as many platforms as Microsoft has

答案A

解析 文章第一段最后两句说明了微软和谷歌的霸主地位。微软凭借其Windows决定了整个产业的命运并获取巨额利润,而谷歌控制着网络搜索业务。perform a similar trick的含义是“采用同样的手段”。
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