今日导读
喜欢旅游的你,一定听说或使用过 airbnb(爱彼迎),在出发前打开它,总是能通过它开始一段奇妙的旅行。可是最近,就在这个打着“共享家”概念的服务型网站正迎来十周年之际,它却遭到了很多国家的抵制。经典外刊《经济学人》的专栏作家对此事有哪些看法呢?
带着问题听讲解
Q1: 为什么有些地方要对爱彼迎进行强烈抵制?
Q2: "ersatz"是什么意思?
Q3: 我们这个时代有什么“怪癖”?
新闻正文
失宠的爱彼迎
If Uber was the terrible toddler of the sharing economy, Airbnb, which celebrates its tenth anniversary next month, behaved as the quieter older sibling. Uber preached (and practised) disruption and chaos, and generally lost its scraps with regulators in Europe. But Airbnb spun a gentler tale of tourists swapping the anonymity of hotels for the authenticity of districts.
如果说优步是共享经济下诞生的学步幼儿,那下个月就要迎来十周年纪念生日的爱彼迎,言行举止看上去像是文静的姐姐。优步像它自己宣传的那样,妨碍着公共秩序并制造着混乱,和欧洲监管者的斗智斗勇也基本以失败告终。但爱彼迎编织了一段更温馨的故事:游客们放弃了原本毫无个性特征的酒店,转而去感受原汁原味的地方特色。
注:terrible:可怕的,不在行的。 preach:说教;讲道;鼓吹;宣扬。disruption:n.分裂;破裂;毁坏。chaos:n.混乱;无秩序。spin:纺织;旋转,过去分词:spun,过去时:spun,spin a tale:编造一个故事。tale:传说,传言,故事。sawap:替换,swap A for B:抛弃A选择B。authenticity:n. 可靠性,确实性,真实性。 district:n. 区域;地方;行政区。
But tourists packing for this year‘s holiday season might brace themselves for an awkward welcome. From Amsterdam to Berlin to Madrid, city officials are tightening the screws, limiting the number of days for which an apartment may be rented and slapping fines on violators.
但是,为了今年的度假时光而打包行李的旅客们,可能要撞上尴尬的欢迎了。从阿姆斯特丹到柏林再到马德里,市政官员正在加强管制,限制租用公寓的天数,并对违规者罚款。
注:tighten:收紧;(使)变紧。slap:拍击;侮辱;掌击。fine:罚款,罚金。
Yet the platform can hardly be blamed for every woe of the mass-tourism age. In contrast to the cruise-ship hordes that have made the centres of Venice and Dubrovnik unbearable, Airbnbers by definition stay in a city. There is some evidence that Airbnb encourages new trips or at least lengthens existing ones, which suggests tourists are spending cash that would otherwise have stayed at home.
然而,这个旅游平台并不应该为大众旅游时代的每一个祸患承担罪责。 相比乘船游览的人们把威尼斯和杜布罗夫尼克的市中心弄得不堪重负,使用爱彼迎的人们本质上仍然停留在一座城市。有一些迹象(证据)表明,爱彼迎的确能鼓励更多的人走出家门看看世界,或者至少让旅客们多在外游玩一些时日。这意味着那些原本存在家里的钱,都会被旅客们用来买买买。
注:cruise:巡航,巡游;漫游。bearable:可忍受的。trip:旅行。lengthen:v.加长;延长。
“Great hotels have always been…mirrors to the particular societies they serve,” wrote Joan Didion, a Californian author. Airbnb highlights a quirk of our own age, in which the thirst for the authentic can come at the expense of the locals who are supposed to provide it. Your columnist is among those who have found themselves turning away from Airbnb’s ersatz authenticity in favour of hotels that do not aspire to be anything other than what they are.
“一直以来,优质的酒店就像一面镜子,映照出它们服务的群体。”加州作家琼·迪迪恩写道。爱彼迎突显了我们时代的一桩怪事,要表达对真实体验的渴求,就要将当地人作为牺牲品,可这些人原本是能够为旅客提供这种体验的。 笔者为伍的则是这样一群人,我们抛弃了爱彼迎虚假的真实感,转而投向酒店的怀抱,酒店不打着什么旗号,只是安安静静地做个酒店而已。
注:particular:特色,特点;特别的;详细的。expense:n.费用;花费;代价。columnist:专栏作家。find oneself doing:猛然的意识到自己处于...状态下。
————— 文章来源 / 经济学人
重点词汇
backlash /?b?kl??/ n. 强烈抵制
sibling /?s?bl??/ n. 兄弟姐妹
preach /pri?t?/ v. 鼓吹
scrap /skr?p/ n. 斗争
anonymity /??n??n?m?ti/ n. 毫无个性特征
brace /bre?s/ v. 为...做准备 brace sb/oneself for sth:为某种困难或坏事做准备。
screw /skru?/ n. 螺丝
woe /wo?/ n. 祸患
horde /h??rd/ n. 一大群人
Dubrovnik /d?‘br?:vnik/ n. 杜布罗夫尼克(克罗地亚东南部港口城市)
quirk /kw??rk/ n. 怪癖
ersatz /?ersɑ?ts/ adj. 虚假的;刻意的
aspire /??spa??r/ v. 希望;渴望 e.g. We aspire to become full-service providers to our clients.
【Q1】今天的抽象名词作主语/宾语没有听明白,到底是什么意思?有什么用?
【Daniel】这是一个写作技巧,当然平时口语里,或者演讲的时候用一用也无妨。大意就是,想要描述人的活动,也可以不直接提到人,而是选择其他的表达,这种表达通常是抽象的名词。比如这个例句:越来越多的人去迪士尼玩。当然可以用四六级金句More and more people go to Disneyland. 也可以不出现people或者其他和人相关的名词,就写Disneyland is gaining popularity. 这种句式的变换和运用会帮助各位理解一些原本比较陌生的原文,对中英文的差异体会得也更清楚。
拓展内容
国外媒体 Vocativ 关于欧洲城市抵制过度旅游业的报道
文中比较特殊的抽象名词作主语/宾语的情况:
practice and preach disruption and chaos
swap the anonymity for the authenticity
encourage new trips or lengthen existing ones
the thirst for the authentic can come at the cost of...
讲解例句:
Mexico has descended into corruption, poverty and chaos.
原文地址:https://www.cnblogs.com/tianqizhi/p/9415700.html