5. Run, TaskRabbit, run July 2030 原文

阅读任务：

1.

查不认识的单词；找出不理解的长难句。

2.

厘清段与段之间的逻辑结构关系 ，动手画一下全文的思维导图。

（用手画用软件都可以）

3.

听音频，模仿发音。

4.

最后把文章朗读

3

遍，培养语感！

！

！

5.

回答以下问题：

①简要概述零工经济的不同发展阶段。

②什么因素能促进零工经济的发展？

If companies had no employees

Run, TaskRabbit, run: July 2030

Driven by technological and legal changes, how far can the “gig economy” go?

The e-

mail that landed in Eva Smith’s mailbox at 7pm on Friday October 13th 2028 had the

ominous subject line “Changes”. Ms. Smith,

a director at a private-equity firm in New York, opened

it with trepidation. “Dear team,” it began, “You have probably heard rumours that we are shaking

up

the

way

we

work

at

Innovation

Investment

Management.

We

will

be

transitioning

to

a

new

model.”

All

jobs

below

C-suite

level

are

to

be

reclassified.

All

those

impacted

will

no

longer

be

employees of IIM. Instead you will work for IIM on a contract basis. This change sounds scarier

than

it

really

is.

It

holds

great

benefits

both

for

you

and

for

IIM.

The

company

will

be

able

to

respond more nimbly to a rapidly changing marketplace. We hope that you will continue to perform

services

for

IIM

on

a

contract

basis,

but

you

will

also

have

the

opportunity

to

work

and

earn

elsewhere. If you have any questions, please ask Irma, our human-resources chatbot.

To begin with, Ms. Smith did not notice much difference in her relationship with IIM. She was

already working on a deal, and while doing so she moved seamlessly from her full-time, permanent

position to a fixed-term contract. (Her hourly rate went up by 20%, but she became responsible for

her own pension and health insurance.) Ms. Smith had hoped to be involved in the next deal. But

she then learned that someone with a PhD in engineering from Harvard had got the contract for that

gig, not her. “It’s not personal; they have the perfect skill

-

set for this deal,” said IIM’s boss.

Ms.

Smith’s

experience

is

increasingly

typical.

During

the

2020s

companies

across

the

rich

world began to rely more heavily than ever on outsourced, temporary workers assigned via digital

platforms.

TimeToCare,

a

platform

known

as

the

“Uber

for

social

care”,

organises

90%

of

the

in-home

elderly-care

visits

in

America.

Workers

from

autonomous-taxi

mechanics

to

retail

assistants

to

flight

attendants

have

jobs

assigned

on

a

daily

or

weekly

basis

through

online

exchanges that match firms with contractors.

McDonald’s,

a

fast

-food

company,

has

taken

things

the

furthest,

outsourcing

100%

of

its

restaurant jobs. Servers, cooks and cleaners at McDonal

d’s are no longer employees of the firm or

its

franchisees,

but

bid

for

positions

at

the

till

on

an

hourly

basis

through

TaskRabbit,

an

online

labour

platform.

“The

First

Fortune

500

Company

With

No

Employees,”

trumpeted

Fortune,

a

business-news service, in its profile of the firm published in 2029.

It is all a stark contrast to the way work was organised in the second half of the 20th century.

Back

then,

businesses

were

fairly

self-contained

operations.

Most

functions

were

completed

in-house by permanent, full-time employees. Many people worked for only one or two companies

during their careers. That arrangement had a business logic. As Ronald Coase, an economist, argued

in the 1930s, it was usually cheaper for firms to have someone there at all times, and to direct them

by fiat, than to negotiate and enforce separate contracts in the open market for every task.

In the 1980s, however, the Coasean model began to be challenged by a new way of working.

As

shareholders

encouraged

companies

to

focus

on

their

core

competencies,

firms

outsourced