2017考博英语阅读题源经济学人文章每日精析（四十一）

　　Sitter：保姆

　　The other big selling-point is that pets by and large receive better treatment. There are ways, apparently, to vet dog hosts to find the real pet lovers: only around 15% of those who apply to serve as sitters are approved. Besides offering pooches more attention and room to roam, the platforms try to offer extra add-ons that appeal to helicopter parents. Rover has launched a feature that enables customers to see how far their dog has been walked via the GPS in the host’s phone. Like Airbnb, both DogVacay and Rover insure stays against accidents.

　　另外一个大的卖点就是，总体上宠物会得到更好的照顾。很明显，这些公司有很多方式去审核“狗狗保姆”来找到真正的喜欢宠物的人。只有约15%申请当“宠物保姆”的人通过认证。此外，为了给狗狗提供更多的关心和散步空间，这些平台尝试提供额外的附加软件来吸引“直升机式的”父母。Rover已经开发出一项新的功能，这能够让顾客通过“宠物保姆”手机上的GPS查看他们的狗狗散步路程。和Airbnb一样，Rover和DogVacay都为“入住期间”投保意外险。

　　add-ons：附加的

　　helicopter parents ['helɪkɒptə]：望子成龙的父母们

　　Another advantage of the model is that, unlike other platforms that match consumers with workers, likehandymen or masseuses, for one-off visits, consumers often use dog-sitting services many times a year, and they tend to be loyal. That has helped DogVacay and Rover attract a lot of venture-capital money—around $140m between them.

　　这种模式的另一个优点就是，不像其他平台为了一次性访问量，会把顾客和诸如打零工的人或女按摩师这些工作人员匹配在一起，而这些平台的顾客们可以一年多次使用“宠物保姆”服务，他们都会成为这些平台的忠实拥趸。这已经帮助Rover和DogVacay吸引了大量风险投资金，约1400万美元。

　　Handymen ['hændɪmæn]：手巧的人

　　Masseuses [mæ'sɜːz]：女按摩师

　　One-off：一次性的

　　Venture-capital ['ventʃə] ['kæpɪt(ə)l]：风险投资的

　　But firms that connect pets with hosts will face daunting competition as they try to go global. Companies offering home-stays for dogs are now cropping up in many different countries, including Australia, Brazil and Britain. And unlike Airbnb, which pulls in customers thanks to its presence in lots of markets that people want to travel to, the network effect for services like DogVacay is local.Despite having anticipated the trend early, such firms may never achieve the same scale as an Airbnb. But then no one ever said it was easy to be top dog.

　　但是，这些使宠物和“宠物保姆”联系起来的公司在打开国际市场时会遇到巨大竞争。为狗狗提供寄养服务的公司在许多国家如雨后春笋般出现，包括澳大利亚、巴西和英国。期待您的翻译，将您的翻译留言在下方，第二天会有解析哟。虽然现在去预测这种趋势的走向为时尚早，但是这些公司可能永远不会像Airbnb一样遍及全球。不过，没有人说过做到业内顶尖是很容易的。

　　cropping up：突然出现

考博必备！历年真题及答案

考博精品好课，就选新东方！