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The hearing was made more bizarre by Mr. Bezos, Mr. Cook, Mr. Pichai and Mr. Zuckerberg
由于貝佐斯、庫克、皮查伊和扎克伯格四人都是通過思科的Webex視頻會議服務遠程出席聽證會的，
dialing in remotely using Cisco's Webex videoconferencing service.
此次聽證會就顯得更加離奇了。
Lawmakers—who mostly appeared in person wearing masks in a House hearing room —
議員們——大多都戴著口罩親自出現在了眾議院的聽證室里——
faced empty chairs and a jumbo screen with the faces of the executives, who looked soberly into their cameras.
面對的只是一排排空蕩蕩的椅子和一個巨大的屏幕，屏幕上彈出的是高管們的面孔，他們無不是神情凝重地看著自己的相機。
Lawmakers nonetheless drilled down on key moments when the companies
盡管如此，議員們還是深入到了這些公司逐漸做大做強，
had gained power or allegedly squeezed consumers, competitors and small businesses.
或是據傳存在擠壓消費者、擠壓競爭對手，擠壓小企業的關鍵節點。
They directed most of their questions to Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Pichai, then to Mr. Bezos,
《紐約時報》的統計顯示，議員們將大部分問題的矛頭都指向了扎克伯格和皮查伊，
according to a tally by The New York Times.
然后是貝佐斯。
Mr. Cook was asked the fewest questions.
庫克被問到的問題最少。
The tone of the hearing was set with Mr. Cicilline's very first question, directed at Mr. Pichai.
（眾議院反壟斷委員會主席）西西林針對皮查伊問出第一個問題時，此次聽證會的基調就已塵埃落定。
"Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?" Mr. Cicilline asked.
“谷歌為什么要竊取誠實的企業的內容？”西西林問道。
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，我不同意這種說法。”
Mr. Zuckerberg was asked about Facebook emails
扎克伯格被問到的是有關電子郵件的問題，
where executives discussed the company's 2012 acquisition of Instagram as a possible strategy to take out a nascent competitor.
那些郵件是2012年Facebook高管們討論收購Instagram一事的郵件，委員會認為收購可能是他們消滅某新興競爭對手的策略。
Mr. Zuckerberg said that, in fact, Instagram's success had never been guaranteed
扎克伯格辯解稱，事實上，Instagram的成功從來就不是必然，
and was the result of Facebook's investment in the product.
而是Facebook投資的結果。
When lawmakers asked Mr. Bezos if Amazon had bullied small merchants,
當議員們問及貝佐斯亞馬遜是否存在欺負小商家的行為時，
he said that it was "not how we operate the business" —
他說，那“不是我們經營業務的方式”——
before being confronted by an audio recording of a bookseller begging him directly for relief.
隨后，議員們拿出了一段錄音與他對峙，那是一名書商求貝佐斯幫幫他的錄音。
In response to questions about whether Apple favored some app developers over others,
在回答有關蘋果公司是否對某些app開發商青眼有加，對其他開發商就冷眼相待時，
Mr. Cook said there were "open and transparent rules" that applied "evenly to everyone."
庫克說，他們有“公開、透明的規則”，“平等適用于所有開發商”。
David Heinemeier Hansson, the co-founder of Basecamp,
大衛·海納麥爾·漢森，
a project-management company that has battled with both Google and Apple over their market power,
一直在與谷歌和蘋果爭奪市場勢力的項目管理公司Basecamp的聯合創始人，
said the hearing would be irrelevant if the government did not act to rein in the tech giants.
他表示，如果政府不采取行動約束這些科技巨頭，就等于聽證會離題了。
"What we ultimately need is relief. We don't just need a historic moment.
“說到底，我們需要的是解脫，而不僅僅是一個歷史性的時刻。
We need this to lead to legislation and regulation and enforcement," he said.
我們需要這次聽證會能促成立法、監管和執法，”他說。
But, Mr. Heinemeier Hansson added, "thankfully I've never been more optimistic for that than I am right now."
不過，海納麥爾·漢森接著又說，“萬幸的是，我對這一天有信心，比以往任何時候都有信心。”
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