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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
BEIJING —Fresh from school with a degree in hotel management, Luo Haichao left his hometown and moved to Beijing to look for a bigger paycheck.
北京——从学校毕业不久,拿到了酒店管理学位的雒海超离开家乡,来北京寻找更高的工资。
他最终在另一个行业找到了一个工作:当司机。
China has created its own local versions of Uber and Lyft, and the ride-hailing business is booming.
中国已经有了本国版本的Uber和Lyft,网约车业务正在蓬勃发展。
But now Mr Luo — and potentially tens of thousands of other drivers — will have to get off the road.
但现在,雒海超将不得不停止工作,还有成千上万的其他司机也可能面临这个前景。
Citing safety and other issues, the cities of Beijing and Shanghai said on Wednesday that Chinese ride-hailing companies must stop using out-of-town drivers like Mr Luo and hire only local residents to sit behind the wheel.
周三,北京和上海这两个城市以安全和其他问题为由宣布,在国内经营网约车业务的公司必须停止使用像雒海超这样的外地司机,只能雇用当地居民来开车。
It makes me feel sad, said Mr Luo, 29, who works for the ride-hailing companies Didi Chuxing and Yidao Yongche and had just spent about $36,000 on a new Volkswagen Passat to give his passengers a more reliable ride.
这让我感到难过,29岁的雒海超说,他为网约车公司滴滴出行和易到用车工作,为了让自己的乘客能更可靠地乘车,他刚花25万元买了一辆新的大众帕萨特。
Without people who come from the outside, Beijing wouldn’t have developed so fast.
没有外地人,北京不会发展得这么快。
The new rules could deal a significant blow to Didi Chuxing, China’s ride-hailing giant, and smaller rivals that must now find new — and probably more expensive — drivers in two major markets.
新规则可能会给中国最大的网约车公司滴滴出行及其更小的竞争对手造成重大打击,这些公司现在必须在这两个主要市场寻找新司机,而且也许要付出更高的工资。
Didi Chuxing had just defeated Uber in an expensive battle for dominance in the world’s largest ride-hailing market, and it enjoys such a high global profile that it counts Apple and other big names among its investors2.
滴滴出行为了在这个世界上最大的网约车市场中占据主导地位,刚在一场代价昂贵的竞争中击败了Uber。
滴滴在全球享有如此高的名声,以至于其投资者中有包括苹果(Apple)这样的大牌公司。
In a statement, Didi said the rules represented a significant step toward a more sensible and liberal framework, and were less limiting on pricing, cars and driver restrictions3 than earlier drafts.
滴滴在一份声明中说,这些规则代表了向着宽松和更合理的方向做了修改,在定价、汽车和驾驶员方面的限制比以前草案版本中的要少。
A spokeswoman declined to comment on how the Beijing and Shanghai residency requirements for drivers would affect its business.
公司发言人对北京和上海有关司机户籍的要求会如何影响公司业务拒绝发表评论。
China’s technology boom has put the country on the innovation map and transformed the lives of many of its nearly 1.4 billion people.
中国技术行业的蓬勃发展已让该国在创新领域占有一席之地,改变了中国近14亿人口中许多人的生活。
But even the new parts of the Chinese economy depend in part on the same old fuel that powered the country’s rise for decades: cheap labor4 from the countryside.
但是,即使在中国经济的新领域,也部分地依赖于几十年来驱动经济发展的旧要素:来自农村的廉价劳动力。
Those workers — now totaling nearly 280 million, including Mr Luo — leave their farms, villages and smaller cities to seek factory jobs and better lives in the big cities.
这种劳动力目前的总人数已近2.8亿,其中包括雒海超,他们从农场、农村和小城镇走出来,到大城市寻找工厂的工作和更好的生活。
Their hands, low wages and willingness to work helped make China the world’s factory floor.
他们的劳动、低工资和什么活都愿意干的态度帮助中国成为世界工厂。
这些工人正越来越多地干着中国互联网成功案例背后的苦活。
They drive cars for Didi Chuxing and Yidao Yongche, deliver packages for Alibaba Group and JD.com, and fetch takeout meals for Koubei and Eleme.
他们为滴滴和易到开车,为阿里巴巴和京东(JD.com)投递包裹,也为口碑和饿了么送外卖餐。
Without them, China’s thriving e-commerce industry could take a significant hit.
没有他们,中国蓬勃发展的电子商务行业可能会受到重大打击。
But the new ride-share regulations show that the technology industry in China is coming up against long-held concerns in the country about overcrowding, a widening wealth gap and access to education, health care and other services.
但是,新的网约车规则表明,中国的技术行业正面临着人们长期以来的担忧,包括人口过多、贫富差距扩大,以及外来人口获得教育、医疗保健及其他服务的问题。
At the bottom of the conflict is tension between powerful vested interests and a new rising class, said Hu Xingdou, an economics professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology.
北京理工大学经济学教授胡兴东说:矛盾的根本是强大的既得利益与上升的新兴阶层之间的紧张关系。
The political power of China’s taxi services — which see ride-hailing companies as dangerous rivals — presents a particularly strong challenge, he said.
他说,中国出租车行业的政治力量是一个尤其强大的挑战,出租车公司把网约车公司视为危险的竞争对手。
目前还不清楚将有多少司机会受影响,但人数可能会不少。
In Shanghai, for instance, fewer than 10,000 of the 410,000 active drivers registered to Didi Chuxing have permanent residency papers, according to Didi.
例如,根据滴滴的数据,在滴滴上海注册的41万名活跃司机中,只有不到1万拥有本地户籍。
Also on Wednesday, the southern boomtown of Guangzhou joined cities that had previously7 instituted less-restrictive residency requirements.
同在周三,南方繁荣城市广州则加入到了户籍要求不那么严格的城市的行列之中。
滴滴在其声明中说,北京市给公司五个月的时间来实施规则。
Officials in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment.
北京的官员没有回应置评请求。
But they were quoted by local news outlets9 citing safety concerns and a need to track drivers, as in the case a year ago, when a 28-year-old Beijing ride-share driver made headlines when he punched a drunk passenger, breaking an eye socket10.
但当地新闻媒体引用官员的话说,主要是出于安全考虑,以及能跟踪司机的需要,比如一年前发生过这样的新闻,北京一名28岁的网约车司机动手打了一名醉酒乘客,将其眼眶打破。
The officials were also mentioned as citing local regulations already in place that require taxi drivers to be residents of the city where they work.
新闻报道还提到,官员称现有地方法规已经要求出租车司机在他们工作的城市有户籍。
At issue is China’s unique household registration11 — or hukou — system, which was intended to keep rural workers from flooding into more populous12 regions.
问题的关键是中国独特的户籍制度,又称户口,其目的是防止外来民工涌入人口更稠密的地区。
The larger cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, need a steady influx13 of people like Mr Luo to function.
北京和上海这样的大城市需要有像雒海超这样的源源不断的劳动力。
But residents or officials often push back, worried that migrants could swamp schools, hospitals and other services.
但这些城市的居民或官员常常产生反弹,担心农民工可能会让学校、医院和其他服务应接不暇。
Chinese cities have long struggled with how to square the need for migrant labor with the hukou system, and the country is slowly moving toward making it easier for migrants to establish residency.
中国城市长期以来一直未能解决户籍制度与外来劳动力需求之间的矛盾,现在中国正在慢慢地向让外来者更容易得到户口的方向发展。
网约车服务业给地方政府带来了特别棘手的问题。
Taxi drivers, who are required to be local residents, feel threatened and have flexed15 their political muscle.
出租车司机需要有当地户口,这些司机感觉受到威胁,并开始动用他们的政治力量。
有些城市的出租车司机采取了罢工行动,有时还骚扰网约车司机。
That has discouraged some ride-share drivers.
这让一些网约车司机感到泄气。
There are fewer and fewer rewards, said Wen Zhenjiang, 37, who worked for Didi and Uber in Beijing for nearly two years and is now looking for work driving trucks.
37岁的温振江曾在北京为滴滴和Uber工作了近两年,目前正在寻找驾驶卡车的工作,他说,(开网约车)的回报已越来越少。
There are other reasons to leave.
也有人因为其他原因离开了网约车行业。
Driving full-time17 often means 14- to 15-hour shifts each day, sometimes overnight if there is strong demand.
全职开车常常意味着每天工作14到15个小时,如果需求特别强劲,有时还需要在夜间工作。
Most drivers rent vehicles, but some — like Mr Luo — bought their own after they started to make good money.
大多数司机用租赁车,但也有些人,比如雒海超,在他们开始赚钱后买了自己的车。
To save on rent, many share apartments in the suburbs.
为了节省房租,许多人在郊区合租公寓。
Their employers don’t keep tabs on how often the drivers work or require them to reach driving quotas18.
网约车司机的雇主不管司机工作多长时间,或者对他们有工作的配额要求。
However, if they get bad ratings from passengers, they risk losing bonus payments.
但是,如果乘客给他们的评分不高的话,他们就有可能失去奖金。
Still, the rewards of getting into the ride-hailing business are clear: Mr Luo has occasionally earned about $4,350 in a month, or three times more than the average Beijing office worker.
尽管如此,从事网约车服务者得到的回报很明显:雒海超有时一个月能挣到3万元,比北京一般上班族挣的高三倍多。
On Wednesday, online groups devoted19 to ride-share drivers were filled with messages of anger and disappointment.
周三,以网约车司机为主的在线社区充满了愤怒和失望的帖子。
Many said they would return to driving illegal taxis.
许多人说,他们会重返驾驶非法出租车的工作。
That will probably make me more money, wrote a driver named Xiaowei.
一个名叫小伟的司机写道,那可能会让我挣到更多的钱。
Another, named Canyue, said, Whatever the rule is, I will keep driving as long as I can still tap ‘start a service’ on my app.
另一个名叫残月的人说,无论有什么规则,只要我还能在app上点击‘启动服务’,我就要继续开车。
Mr Luo has a lot at stake.
新规则对雒海超有很大的利害关系。
He is married and has an apartment and a mortgage back home in Chengde County in Hebei Province.
他已结婚,在河北省承德县有一套公寓,需要支付抵押贷款。
His living is a good one for someone with a rural hukou.
他目前的生活对有农村户口的人来说已很不错。
He is still making monthly payments equal to about $290 on his car and paying the same amount on his mortgage.
他仍在支付每月约2000元的车贷和同样数额的房贷。
This is unfair to people from outside Beijing, he said.
这对北京以外的人不公平,他说。
But his days in the business are probably numbered, he said on Wednesday.
但他在周三说,他当网约车司机的日子可能不多了。
If it isn’t allowed, I will stop driving, he said.
他说,如果不让我干了,我将不再开车。
What can I do? I can’t put all my eggs in one basket.
我能干什么呢?我总不能把所有的鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里吧。
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sector
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n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形 | |
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investors
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n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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restrictions
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约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则) | |
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labor
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n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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grunt
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v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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affected
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adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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previously
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adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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implement
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n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行 | |
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outlets
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n.出口( outlet的名词复数 );经销店;插座;廉价经销店 | |
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socket
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n.窝,穴,孔,插座,插口 | |
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registration
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n.登记,注册,挂号 | |
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populous
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adj.人口稠密的,人口众多的 | |
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influx
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n.流入,注入 | |
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tricky
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adj.狡猾的,奸诈的;(工作等)棘手的,微妙的 | |
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flexed
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adj.[医]曲折的,屈曲v.屈曲( flex的过去式和过去分词 );弯曲;(为准备大干而)显示实力;摩拳擦掌 | |
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harassing
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v.侵扰,骚扰( harass的现在分词 );不断攻击(敌人) | |
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full-time
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adj.满工作日的或工作周的,全时间的 | |
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quotas
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(正式限定的)定量( quota的名词复数 ); 定额; 指标; 摊派 | |
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devoted
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adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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