2013年12月英语六级阅读真题及答案(卷一)

作宾语

,

因此可以排除。

Section B

Directions

：

In

this

section,

you

are

going

to

read

a

passage

with

ten

statements

attached

to

it.

Each

statement

contains

information

given

in

one

of

the

paragraphs.

Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a

paragraph

more

than

once.

Each

paragraph

is marked with a

letter. Answer the

questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet2.

The rise of the sharing economy

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

economy

in

which

people

rent

beds,

cars,

boats

and

other

assets

directly

from

each

other, co-ordinate via the internet.

A) You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (

家

庭旅店

),owning a timeshare (

分时度假房）

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, RelayRides and SnapGoods

match

up

owners

and

renters

；

smartphones

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

B)

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.

C) 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 back 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.

D)

Such

(

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

RelayRides

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.

E) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of

the

charm.

Curmudgeons

(

低脾气的人）

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

F)

The

shying

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

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.

G)

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

vehicl es

，

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.

H) 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.

I)

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.

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