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  3. When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015, it picked up two newcomers that were a

When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015, it picked up two newcomers that were a

admin2021-03-11  27
问题         When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015, it picked up two newcomers that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley.Microsoft’s own Of¬fice 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 insatiable 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, put¬ting 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 lar¬ger 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 pros¬pect of regulators wading into early-stage tech markets that until now have been beyond their reach.
        Given their combined market value of more than $5.5bn, rifling through such small deals— many of them much less prominent than Wunderlist and Sunrise—might seem beside the point.Between them, the five companies (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Facebook) have spent an average of only $3.4bn a year on sub- $ lbn acquisitions over the past five years—a drop in the ocean compared with their massive financial reserves, and the more than $ 130bn of venture capital that was invested in the US last year.
        However, critics say that 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.
Paul Arnold is concerned that small acquisitions might__________ .
选项 A、harm the national economy
B、worsen market competition
C、discourage start up investors
D、weaken big tech companies
答案A
解析 根据题干关键词Paul Arnold 定位到原文第四段“…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”，我认为,如果我存有私心,这些东西对我有好处。但它们对美国经济有好处吗?我不知道。由but可知,从个人角度,保罗·阿诺德认为这件事是好事,但是言下之意,客观来看,这对美国经济来说可能并不好。A项“对国家经济有害”与文章表述一致,故选A。B项“恶化了市场竞争”,原文并未提及保罗·阿诺德谈论竞争问题,故B项错误。C项“阻碍了创业公司投资商”，原文提及这件事对于他自身是积极评价,所以可以推测出这种行为是有利于创业公司的投资商。D项“伤害了科技巨头”,由前文可知,收购小公司对于科技巨头来说肃清了潜在竞争者，并未带来伤害。C、D两项与原文表述不符，故均排除。
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