阅读理解。
Suppose you don’t need your car today. And suppose, as it happens, that a stranger in your
area does need a car. Would you be willing to rent yours out?
Several car-sharing start-ups, including Getaround, RelayRides and JustShareIt, are eager to
connect car owners with renters this way. The companies have different rules, but participatingo
wners receive, generally speaking, about two-thirds of the rental earnings. RelayRides says an
owner of a midsize, late-model sedan who rents out a car for 10 hours a week could expect to
clear about ＄3,000 a year.
Peer-to-peer car sharing remains in the trial stage; it can be found in San Francisco and a few
other places. It has a long way to go before it becomes the auto equivalent of Airbnb, the surprise
success story for peer-to-peer sharing of space in apartments and houses.
Shelby Clark, founder of RelayRides, says potential investors in his company have been
concerned that owners will be afraid to hand their car over to strangers. To address that, he points
to Airbnb, saying, “Letting people sleep in your living room is much more of a disturbance into
your personal space than letting someone use your car.”
All of these c
ompanies offer their own insurance coverage for their renters, which are supposed
to put owners’ minds at ease. But only two states-California and Oregon-have passed laws to
clarify that an owner will not suffer any consequences should a car-sharing renter have an accident.
“In all the other states, legal ambiguity remains,” Shelby Clark says. “If a renter should be
involved in a serious accident in those states, the victim can be expected to go after every party
possible, including the car’s owner.”
Also to remove the worries of car owners, the driving records of renters are checked for recent
serious violations.
1. What does the underlined word “sedan” in Paragraph 2 probably refer to?______
A. A kind of car.
B. An owner of a car.
C. A renting company.
D. A car-sharing renter
2. Which of the following is true of Airbnb? ______
A. It cares little about personal privacy.
B. It deals with house-sharing successfully.
C. It is a very popular car-sharing company.
D. Its ideas are being tried out in some states.
3. If a car-sharing renter should have an accident in California, the car’s owner ___ .
A. has to take legal responsibility
B. will not suffer the consequence
C. is not covered by health insurance
D. must pay the insurance for the renter
4. According to the text, more car-owners will participate in the service, if _
A. legal ambiguity is clarified in all the states
B. renters are warned not to violate traffic rules
C. more money is given to participating owners
D. people are aware of the importance of sharing
5. It can be learned from the text that car-sharing
A. makes no profit
B. remains in popularity
C. is against the state law
D. is a new business model
