Question

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(新兴公司)，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(行业巨头)in the traditional storage industry，such as Big Yenow and Access，aren’t convinced．A representative from Access told Shaw he was skeptical about storing with “amateurs”．He considered 24／7(全天候) access to the items and better security as the main advantages of his service.

Stashbee agree that dealing with 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 relying 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．

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

1.The author put forward two questions at the beginning of the text to__________.

A. expect readers to answer them    B. carry out a survey among readers

C. start a conversation among readers    D. draw readers attention to the topic

2.How does Dougal Shaw try out Stashbee’s business?

A. Experiencing in person．    B. Doing a survey online．

C. Analyzing some data．    D. Exchanging his belongings.

3.What does the traditional storage industry value most?

A. Trust．    B. Security．

C. Cost．    D. Professional knowledge．

4.What can we infer from the text?

A. Trust is not well built in childhood education．

B. The new startup isn’t concerned about security．

C. No company follows the business model of Stashbee．

D. Consumer attitudes have changed greatly over time．

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.B

4.A

【解析】本文主要讲了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。

1.写作意图题。由Anthony Paine believed enough of us would answer“yes”to these questions to launch his own startup(新兴公司)，Stashbee．His business links people with space to those who need it可知，作者在开头提出两个问题，是为了吸引读者的注意力到文章主题上，选D。

2.细节理解题。由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可知，Dougal Shaw亲自试验Stashbee的交易，选A。

3.推理判断题。由He considered 24／7(全天候)access to the items and better security as the main advantages of his service.可推断出，传统储存行业的价值在于其安全性，选B。

4.推理判断题。由Stashbee agree that dealing with security concerns is important，but say business success depends more on people overcoming a distrust of strangers we’ve been taught since childhood.可推断出，由于童年时期不信任陌生人的教育，信任没有被很好地建立，选A。