【新闻精讲】

Fake news items are not the only problem facing the social network
虚假新闻并非社交网络面临的唯一问题

Whatever happens, Facebook’s heft ensures that it will remain in the firing-line. It has nearly 1.8bn monthly users, or about half of the internet population, and it serves up much of what people read online. Whereas Google dominates the market for ads related to online search, Facebook rules the one based on consumers’ online profiles. Together both firms accounted for all new online ad spending this year, according to Mr Wieser.
不管发生的会是哪种情形，Facebook的影响力必然会令其遭受持续的批评。它的月活跃用户将近18亿，大约相当于整个互联网用户数的一半。人们在线阅读的内容有相当一部分是由Facebook提供。谷歌主导了与在线搜索相关的广告市场，而Facebook则支配着基于消费者在线资料的广告市场。按照威瑟的说法，这两家公司包揽了今年所有的新增在线广告支出。
Heft 重量，影响力

Firing-line 炮轰区域
Dominate 占据主要位置
Account for 占比

With immense size comes intense scrutiny. Yet it is not clear whether Mr Zuckerberg fully grasps this. When first asked about the role of fake news in the American election campaign, he said it was a “pretty crazy idea” to think Facebook had an impact on voters. Only when Google said last week that it would bar fake-news sites from using its ad services, did it take the same step.

巨大的规模必然会引致严格的审视，但扎克伯格是不是完全领会了这一点，目前还不太好说。一开始被问及假新闻在美国总统竞选活动中所扮演的角色时，他说，认为Facebook会影响到选民是个“非常离谱的想法”。直到上月谷歌宣布将阻止假新闻网站使用其广告服务时，Facebook才采取了同样的措施。
Grasp v.抓住

In a blog post on November 19th Mr Zuckerberg both set out how the social network would deal with the problem and insisted that Facebook itself does not want to decide whether something is fake or not. But it emerged a few days later that Facebook has already developed a censorship tool, to be used in China should the firm be allowed back into the country, underlining that it knows precisely how to filter its content when it wants to.
在11月19日的一篇博文中，扎克伯格既阐述了Facebook将如何应对假新闻这一问题，但也坚称Facebook本身并不想去裁定某件事是真是假。但几天后的情形表明，Facebook已经开发了一款审查工具，如果公司获准重返中国，这一工具将会在该国使用。这显示，Facebook完全了解该如何过滤其内容——只要它想这么做。

set out 着手
Emerge v.出现，暴露
Censorship n.审查
Filter v.过滤

Some of these issues are easier to deal with than others. It should be straightforward enough to deal with any suggestion that Facebook is tricking advertisers. Answering the accusation that it is hurting democracy and violating people’s privacy raises far harder problems. In America almost half of adults now get their political news on Facebook. No other online firm, not even Google, has more data about consumers. More transparency would improve things across the board. So would an acceptance by Mr Zuckerberg of just what a heavy responsibility he now bears.
以上种种问题中，某些会比其他的更容易应对一些。在面对有关蒙骗广告主的质疑时，解决方法应该很简单直接。但要回应损害民主、侵犯人们隐私权的指控，要面对的问题则要严峻得多。在美国，如今几乎有一半的成年人都是从Facebook上获取政治新闻。没有哪家互联网公司（甚至包括谷歌在内）拥有的消费者资料会比Facebook更多。更高的透明度会全面改善状况。如果扎克伯格肯承认自己如今责任重大，也会达到同样的效果。
straightforward adj.直接了当的
Trick v.欺骗
Accusation n.指责
- accuse v.指责（blame）
- She was accused of lying.
Transparency n.透明度
Bear v.忍受承担