SSS 2012-08-17
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(八)月
英语课
This is scientific American sixty seconds science. I'm Evelyn Lamb. Got a minute?
Big city dwellers 1 who need a car for less than a day can rent Zipcars by the hour. Zipcar's ads emphasize environmentalism and community. But a recent study shows most Zipcar users primarily consider their own convenience and cost rather than being green or part of a user community. The study is in the Journal of Consumer Research.
The investigation 2 is part of more general research about what's called access-based consumption, basically very short-term rental 3, which has grown due to economic recession and the cramped 4 quarters of big cities.
In the interview with Zipcar users, researchers found that they tend to behave selfishly and don't worry about how their treatment of the cars affects the next guy. As one user interviewed for the study put it, quo" you can just beat the hell out of it, it's not your car."
And since users assume everyone else is behaving the same way, they appreciate the rules that the company does try to enforce about, for example, cleanliness. Not surprisingly, these attitudes don't engender 5 a feeling of community because the condition of your temporary car depends on the users who cared the least about it.
Thanks for the minute for scientific American sixty seconds. I'm Evelyn Lamb.
1 dwellers
n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )
- City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 investigation
n.调查，调查研究
- In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
- He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。
3 rental
n.租赁，出租，出租业
- The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
- We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。