Making money from your spare room 空房间变生财之道

随身英语 Making money from your spare room 空房间变生财之道

Play audio file 你想足不出户赚取外快吗？分享型经济允许你向陌生人出租自行车、停车位，甚至家里多余的空间。近年来，一些企业给希望通过保管他人财物来赚钱的人们提供了众多新平台。《随身英语》介绍传统储物公司和新型储物模式的利与弊。

课文内容 Vocabulary: Business 词汇: 商业 If a stranger offered you money to keep a suitcase in your spare room, would you accept? How about the other way round: if you had too many belongings, would you consider trusting someone you met online with their safekeeping? Anthony Paine believed enough of us would answer 'yes' to these questions to launch his own startup, Stashbee. His business links people with space to those who need it.

And it's just one player in the booming 'sharing economy', an industry that relies on people renting out things like their beds, bikes and even parking spaces. Airbnb, a company valued at 200bn RMB, provides a platform for those renting property short-term. DogVacay pairs holidaymaking pet owners with pet-friendly hosts, and aims to be profitable by 2017.

All their business models revolve around one simple word: trust. So, how does Stashbee measure up? BBC journalist Dougal Shaw decided to try it out for himself. He had some odds and ends to store while renovating his house, and met a host through the site who could keep them for 475 RMB for two months. All relatively smooth and painless.

Heavyweights in the traditional storage industry, such as Big Yellow and Access, aren't convinced. A representative from Access told Shaw he was sceptical about storing with “amateurs”. He cited 24/7 access to the items and better security as the main advantages of his service. Cost-wise it would set you back an extra 160 RMB to store with them.

Stashbee agree that tackling security concerns is important, but say business success depends more on people overcoming a distrust of strangers we've been taught since childhood.They aren't alone. Companies such as Costockage, Roost and Spacer all run similar storage businesses, and are all banking on a shift in consumer attitudes.

And the concept of social storage doesn't stop there. CityStasher believe there's a gap in the market for those who want to store things for extremely short periods of time. For example, if you have three hours to kill in a city before your train leaves, what do you do with your suitcase? CityStasher hope you will choose to leave it at a local newsagent, found through their website of course, rather than in the station's pricier left luggage office.

Would you try it out? It's a question of trust.

词汇表 safekeeping （贵重物品的）妥善保管

startup 刚起步的小公司

player 主要参与企业

short-term 短期地

holidaymaking 在外度假的

-friendly 对……友善的（词缀）

profitable 有盈利的

business model 商业模式

to measure up 达到（标准）、满足（期望）

odds and ends 零碎的杂物

painless 轻而易举的

heavyweight 行业巨头

24/7 全天候的

-wise 在……方面（词缀）

to set (you) back 花掉（你）一大笔钱

distrust 不信任

to bank on 指望

a gap in the market 市场缺口，市场空白

pricey 贵的，价格高的

left luggage office 行李寄存处

测验与练习 1. 阅读课文并回答问题。

1. Do Stashbee provide storage space? 

2. Which word means 'things you own'?

3. What do Stashbee consider to be the biggest obstacle to success?

4. True or false: DogVacay arrange vacations for dogs

5. What main advantage does CityStasher have over a traditional storage company in a station?

2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处 。

1. I expected moving house would be a nightmare, but in the end it was quite ______. 

painless      pricey      heavyweight      sceptical

2. These shoes will ______ 2,000 RMB, but they'll last forever. 

set backing      setting you back      set back      set you back

3. We're ______ good weather tomorrow for our walk in the forest.

banking on      safekeeping      banking      bank on

4. The restaurant wasn't child ______. There was nowhere to leave the buggy.

-term      -friendly      -wise      -ways

5. You're losing money. You need to change your business model if you want to be ______. 

measure up      banking on      profitable      heavyweight

答案 1.  阅读课文并回答问题。

1. Do Stashbee provide storage space? 

No. They connect people who have storage space to others who need it.

2. Which word means 'things you own'?

Belongings.

3. What do Stashbee consider to be the biggest obstacle to success?

They believe that overcoming the distrust people learned as children is the key to success.

4.True or false: DogVacay arrange vacations for dogs

False. DogVacay help people going on holiday to find a host they can leave their pet with.

5. What main advantage does CityStasher have over a traditional storage company in a station?

The main advantage mentioned in the article is that storing with CityStasher is cheaper than using left luggage in a station.

2. 请你在不参考课文的情况下完成下列练习。选择一个意思合适的单词填入句子的空格处 。

1. I expected moving house would be a nightmare, but in the end it was quite painless.

2. These shoes will set you back 2,000 RMB, but they'll last forever.

3. We're banking on good weather tomorrow for our walk in the forest.

4. The restaurant wasn't child­-friendly. There was nowhere to leave the buggy.

5. You're losing money. You need to change your business model if you want to be profitable.