首页
登录
职称英语
The Rise of the Sharing EconomyA)Last night 40,000 peop
The Rise of the Sharing EconomyA)Last night 40,000 peop
游客
2024-01-24
41
管理
问题
The Rise of the Sharing Economy
A)Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000 rooms in 30,000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests were matched up by Airbnb, a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more than 4 million people have used it—2.5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most prominent example of a huge new "sharing economy", in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other assets directly from each other, coordinated via the internet.
B)You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast. Owning a time share or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever—and therefore possible on a much larger scale. The big change is the availability of more data about people and things, which allows physical assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible, but was usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, Relay Rides and Snap Goods match up owners and renters; smart phones with GPS let people see where the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and build trust; and online payment systems handle the billing.
What’s mine is yours, for a fee
C)Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites let individuals act as an ad hoc(临时的)taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel(精品酒店)as and when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model works for items that are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them. Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden, fields in Australia and washing machines in France. As advocates of the sharing economy like to put it, access trumps(胜过)ownership.
D)Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peer rental market alone is worth $26 billion. Broader definitions of the sharing economy include peer-to-peer lending or putting a solar panel on your roof and selling power hack to the grid(电网). And it is not just individuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spare offices and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting things from each other.
E)Such "collaborative(合作的)consumption" is a good thing for several reasons. Owners make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out their homes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $ 9,300. Car owners who rent their vehicles to others using Relay Rides make an average of $250 a month; some make more than $1,000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than they would if they bought the item themselves, or turned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or car-hire firm. And there are environmental benefits, too: renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars are required and fewer resources must be devoted to making them.
F)For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm. Curmudgeons(脾气倔的人)who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay at conventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well as the background checks carried out by platform owners, online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both parties to each transaction, which makes it easy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and surfboard-wreckers. By using Facebook and other social networks, participants can check each other out and identify friends(or friends of friends)in common. An Airbnb user had her apartment trashed in 2011. But the remarkable thing is how well the system usually works.
Peering into the future
G)The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago. At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon, they felt safe buying elsewhere. Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service for the first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional "power sellers"(many of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing economy, which also provides new opportunities for enterprise; Some people have bought cars solely to rent them out, for example.
H)Existing rental businesses are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a sharing rival. So do GM and Daimler, two carmakers. In future, companies may develop hybrid(混合的)models, listing excess capacity(whether vehicles, equipment or office. space)on peer-to-peer rental sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced the old ways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as internet shopping forced Wal-mart and Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment-hire and more.
I)The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for example? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down
unlicensed hotels. In some American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by traditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protect consumers from harm, existing rental businesses will try to destroy competition. People who rent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a Ritz-Carlton hotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than adequate.
J)The sharing economy is the latest example of the internet’s value to consumers. This emerging model is now big and disruptive(颠覆性的)enough for regulators and companies to have woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring about sharing. [br] Airbnb’ s success clearly illustrates the emergence of a huge sharing economy.
选项
答案
A
解析
题干:Airbnb的成功清楚表明一个巨大的分享经济的出现。文中A段讲了Airbnb的产生,其中最后一句提到,它的成功是新出现的分享经济的典型的榜样,人们可以租床,汽车等。与题干意思吻合,故选A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3391320.html
相关试题推荐
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
TheRiseoftheSharingEconomyA)Lastnight40,000peop
杭州市拥有世界上最大的公用自行车系统(bikesharingsystem)。目前杭州市共有2700个公用自行车租赁站点,共计66500辆车。计划至2
[originaltext]France’sfirstdocklessbike-sharingprogramGobee,whichlau
随机试题
Marriedpeoplelive"happilyeverafter"infairytales,buttheydosoless
下面对图像后处理的描述,错误的是A.多平面重建是三维图像 B.最大密度投影只显
影响旅客运输需求的主要因素有()。A.社会经济发展水平 B.居民生活水
与酸性焊条相比,碱性焊条焊接时所表现出的特点为()。A:能够有效地消除焊缝金属
在社会主义市场经济逐步建立与完善的过程中,政府机构改革的声音与步伐始终伴随,建立
某厂新建一条大型汽车生产线建设工程,内容包括:土建施工、设备安装与调试、钢结构工
以下关于肾小管分泌的表述错误的是A.需要能量B.需要载体C.有饱和和竞争抑制现象
去过几次小朋友的家,就能画出具体的路线图来,认知发展到哪一阶段的儿童能做到这种程
以下情形中不予医师执业注册的是A.不具有完全民事行为能力的 B.受吊销医师执业
在“一通三防”管理制度中,不属于“三防”范畴的是()。A.防透水 B.防瓦斯
最新回复
(
0
)