(单词翻译:单击)
情景对话
Todd: Okay. So we're talking about housing Meg. You know, these days, a lot of people can actually stay in houses when they travel. Like they don't stay in hotels, they stay in a house. Have you heard about Airbnb?
托德：好。梅格，我们来谈谈住房。你知道，现在有许多人在旅行时选择租房。人们不是住酒店，而是会租房。你听说过Airbnb吗？
Meg: Yeah, I have heard of it. I've looked at the website a couple of times. Do they have Airbnb where you're from?
梅格：我听说过。我浏览过这个网站几次。Airbnb服务覆盖你家乡吗？
Todd: They do. They actually do have Airbnb in San Francisco but I have not used it in San Francisco, I've only used it actually traveling in other countries. I used it Thailand and I was going to use it in Japan but I ended up – I couldn't use it because of the travel problems but yeah.
托德：有，Airbnb在旧金山有房源，不过我在旧金山没有用过Airbnb，我只会在其他国家旅行时使用Airbnb找房源。我在泰国时用Airbnb找过房子，我本来打算在日本时也使用Airbnb，可是因为旅行中的一些问题，我没能用到Airbnb的服务。
Meg: So how does it work?
梅格：要怎么使用Airbnb的服务？
Todd: Basically, what it works is if somebody owns a house, they can rent out a room. And so, you find a house online and then you book it with the scheduling system online. And then you pay Airbnb the money and then the people let you stay in their house.
托德：基本上来说，就是房主出租房屋。你在找房子时可以使用Airbnb网站的在线调度系统预订房子。然后你付钱给Airbnb，房主就会让你住在他们出租的房子里。
Meg: What are the cost usually? Is it expensive?
梅格：通常来说费用是多少？贵吗？
Todd: It can be really cheap or really expensive. You have both ends. I mean, sometimes you can just rent a room and sometimes, you can actually rent the whole house. So, you know – and now, in places like Thailand or other places in Southeast Asia, what they do is a lot of condominiums now are kind of turning into mini-hotels. So rather than try to find long-term tenants, they just search for – or they just rent out their apartments on Airbnb.
托德：可以很便宜，也可以很贵。便宜的房子和贵的房子都有。有时你可以只租一个房间，有时你可以租到整个房子。像泰国和其他东南亚国家有很多共管公寓，现在这些公寓正在逐渐转型为迷你酒店。房主不是在找长期房客，而是将公寓租给Airbnb。
Meg: Right. Well, it sounds like a good way to stay some place you haven't been before.
梅格：好。听起来这是在你没去过的地方生活的一个好方法。
Todd: It is good. I mean, when I used it in Thailand, what I liked about it was you feel like you have a real, you know, you have real roots there. You're not in the hotel so nobody is kind of intruding on you or nobody is coming to clean your room everyday. So you feel like you have more privacy and you feel like you really live in the place. And usually, the apartments are in real neighborhoods so they're not in touristy areas. So there are definitely some advantages.
托德：是很好。我在泰国用Airbnb找房源时，我喜欢那种扎根于那里的感觉。不住在酒店里，就不会有人来打扰你，或是每天来给你打扫房间。这样你会有更多的隐私，你会感觉到你生活在那个地方。一般来说，出租的公寓位于真正的社区，并不是在旅游景点。所以有一定的好处。
Meg: Would you say that it's safe?
梅格：你指的是安全吗？
Todd: Yeah. I guess that's the biggest concern. It seems to be safe. I mean, from what I see – although there was an interesting case recently in California where they've had problems of squatters. And a squatter...
托德：对。我想那是人们最关心的问题。看起来很安全。在我看来……不过最近加州发生了一些值得反思的案件，有人擅自占用他人的房子。
Meg: What are squatters?
梅格：什么意思？
Todd: A squatter is somebody who, they take the Airbnb house and then they just never leave.
托德：就是有些人租住了Airbnb提供的房子后，就不再离开。
Meg: Oh.
梅格：哦。
Todd: Yeah. And then they're hard to evict. So that was one interesting thing. And then also, recently, the company has been in the news because people that have low-income housing, like government subsidized housing, they've been trying to rent out their apartments on Airbnb.
托德：对。而且很难把他们赶出去。这是一件值得注意的事情。另外，最近Airbnb上了新闻，原因是一些保障性住房，就是政府补贴住房的房主想把公寓出租给Airbnb。
Meg: On Airbnb.
梅格：在Airbnb上出租。
Todd: And then the city or the government said, "Hey, you can't do that because we give you this house at a discount to help you because you're low income. So you can't use it to make a profit." So it's been a very debatable situation.
托德：可是市政府说，“嘿，你们不能这样做，因为政府在你们买房时提供了折扣，你们是低收入人群，所以我们提供了帮助。所以你们不能用房子来营利。”这是一个备受争议的情况。
Meg: Yeah. I guess it's kind of like double dipping.
梅格：嗯。那就像双重获利一样。
Todd: Yeah.
托德：对。
Meg: You're getting discount or paid in a way to live there and then you want to get paid more. So it sounds like a problem.
梅格：你在买房时获得了优惠，然后你还想获利更多。听起来的确是个问题。
Todd: Yeah. So what do you think? Would you be interested in doing something like Airbnb?
托德：对。你怎么看？你对Airbnb这种服务感兴趣吗？
Meg: Yeah. I definitely think so. After researching a place, maybe if I have a lot of pictures and it seemed clear that it would be safe, yeah, I think I'd like to do it.
梅格：感兴趣。我非常喜欢这种服务。在研究过一个地方以后，如果我掌握了很多照片，而且那里看起来干净又安全的话，我想我会想租住的。
Todd: And actually their website is fantastic. Like if you go to their website, you can, let's say, choose a house in Paris or Madrid or whatever. And then they often have like the Google street cam thing so you can see what the house looks like on the inside. And then you could actually do the rotating camera and see what the neighborhood looks like. And then everybody leaves reviews about the owner and about their stay there, so you'd get a good feel about what the place is like. So it's kind of a new way to travel, and it's kind of cool.
托德：实际上，我认为这个网站非常棒。假设你在Airbnb网站上选择巴黎或马德里的房子。然后你可以通过谷歌的街景相机看到房子里面的情况。你还可以通过旋转式照相机看到社区周围的情况。在那所房子住过的人会对房主进行评价，这样你就可以了解那所房子怎么样。这是一种旅行的新方式，一种非常酷的方式。
Meg: Yeah. It sounds interesting especially the reviews. I think knowing someone else has had a good experience, I would definitely be interested in doing it.
梅格：对。听起来很有趣，而且还有评价可以参考。我认为，在知道有人在那所房子里有美好的体验之后，我一定会更感兴趣。
Todd: Yeah, definitely.
托德：对，绝对会。
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重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. a couple of 两个；几个；
例句：I think the trouble will clear up in a couple of days.
我想问题几天内就会解决。
2. turn into (使)变成；(使)成为；
例句：The fighting is threatening to turn into full-scale war.
这场战斗有可能会演变为全面的战争。
3. search for 搜寻；搜索；搜查；寻求；
例句：The Turkish security forces have started searching for the missing men.
土耳其安全部队已经开始搜寻失踪人员。
4. intrude on 干扰；扰乱；
例句：Do you feel anxious when unforeseen incidents intrude on your day?
当意外事件干扰了你的生活时,你会感到焦虑吗？
