美語情景對話 第1117期:Using AirBnB 如何用AirBnB網站

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?

託德：好。梅格，我們來談談住房。你知道，現在有許多人在旅行時選擇租房。人們不是住酒店，而是會租房。你聽說過Airbnb嗎？

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：我聽說過。我瀏覽過這個網站幾次。Airbnb服務覆蓋你家鄉嗎？

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.

託德：有，Airbnb在舊金山有房源，不過我在舊金山沒有用過Airbnb，我只會在其他國家旅行時使用Airbnb找房源。我在泰國時用Airbnb找過房子，我本來打算在日本時也使用Airbnb，可是因爲旅行中的一些問題，我沒能用到Airbnb的服務。

Meg: So how does it work?

梅格：要怎麼使用Airbnb的服務？

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.

託德：基本上來說，就是房主出租房屋。你在找房子時可以使用Airbnb網站的在線調度系統預訂房子。然後你付錢給Airbnb，房主就會讓你住在他們出租的房子裏。

Meg: What are the cost usually? Is it expensive?

梅格：通常來說費用是多少？貴嗎？

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.

託德：可以很便宜，也可以很貴。便宜的房子和貴的房子都有。有時你可以只租一個房間，有時你可以租到整個房子。像泰國和其他東南亞國家有很多共管公寓，現在這些公寓正在逐漸轉型爲迷你酒店。房主不是在找長期房客，而是將公寓租給Airbnb。

Meg: Right. Well, it sounds like a good way to stay some place you haven't been before.

梅格：好。聽起來這是在你沒去過的地方生活的一個好方法。

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.

託德：是很好。我在泰國用Airbnb找房源時，我喜歡那種紮根於那裏的感覺。不住在酒店裏，就不會有人來打擾你，或是每天來給你打掃房間。這樣你會有更多的隱私，你會感覺到你生活在那個地方。一般來說，出租的公寓位於真正的社區，並不是在旅遊景點。所以有一定的好處。

Meg: Would you say that it's safe?

梅格：你指的是安全嗎？

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...

託德：對。我想那是人們最關心的問題。看起來很安全。在我看來……不過最近加州發生了一些值得反思的案件，有人擅自佔用他人的房子。

Meg: What are squatters?

梅格：什麼意思？

Todd: A squatter is somebody who, they take the Airbnb house and then they just never leave.

託德：就是有些人租住了Airbnb提供的房子後，就不再離開。

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.

託德：對。而且很難把他們趕出去。這是一件值得注意的事情。另外，最近Airbnb上了新聞，原因是一些保障性住房，就是政府補貼住房的房主想把公寓出租給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.

託德：可是市政府說，“嘿，你們不能這樣做，因爲政府在你們買房時提供了折扣，你們是低收入人羣，所以我們提供了幫助。所以你們不能用房子來營利。”這是一個備受爭議的情況。

Meg: Yeah. I guess it's kind of like double dipping.

梅格：嗯。那就像雙重獲利一樣。

Todd: Yeah.

託德：對。

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：你在買房時獲得了優惠，然後你還想獲利更多。聽起來的確是個問題。

Todd: Yeah. So what do you think? Would you be interested in doing something like Airbnb?

託德：對。你怎麼看？你對Airbnb這種服務感興趣嗎？

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：感興趣。我非常喜歡這種服務。在研究過一個地方以後，如果我掌握了很多照片，而且那裏看起來乾淨又安全的話，我想我會想租住的。

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.

託德：實際上，我認爲這個網站非常棒。假設你在Airbnb網站上選擇巴黎或馬德里的房子。然後你可以通過谷歌的街景相機看到房子裏面的情況。你還可以通過旋轉式照相機看到社區周圍的情況。在那所房子住過的人會對房主進行評價，這樣你就可以瞭解那所房子怎麼樣。這是一種旅行的新方式，一種非常酷的方式。

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：對。聽起來很有趣，而且還有評價可以參考。我認爲，在知道有人在那所房子裏有美好的體驗之後，我一定會更感興趣。

Todd: Yeah, definitely.

託德：對，絕對會。

譯文屬僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載

重點講解：
1. a couple of 兩個；幾個；
例句：I think the trouble will clear up in a couple of days.
我想問題幾天內就會解決。
2. turn into (使)變成；(使)成爲；
例句：The fighting is threatening to turn into full-scale war.
這場戰鬥有可能會演變爲全面的戰爭。
3. search for 搜尋；搜索；搜查；尋求；
例句：The Turkish security forces have started searching for the missing men.
土耳其安全部隊已經開始搜尋失蹤人員。
4. intrude on 干擾；擾亂；
例句：Do you feel anxious when unforeseen incidents intrude on your day?
當意外事件干擾了你的生活時,你會感到焦慮嗎？