听考研真题|2023年英一阅读2:当民宿变成了 ＂酒店＂

Communities throughout New England have been attempting to regulate short-term rentals since sites like Airbnb took off in the 2010s. 

【生词】rental n.租费，租金额

【翻译】自2010年代Airbnb等平台兴起以来，新英格兰地区的各地社区一直在尝试对短期租赁进行监管。

Now with record-high home prices and historically low inventory, there’s an increased urgency in such regulation, particularly among those who worry that developers will come in and buy up swaths of housing to flip for a fortune on the short-term rental market.

【生词】inventory n.存货清单

fortune n.大笔的钱, 时运，运气, 命运

In New Hampshire, where the rental vacancy rate has dropped below 1 percent, housing advocates fear unchecked short-term rentals will put further pressure on an already strained market. 

【生词】vacancy n.空缺, 空虚, 空白, 空位

【翻译】在新罕布什尔州，租房空置率已降至1%以下，住房权益倡导者担忧，若短期租赁不受监管，将进一步给本已紧张的住房市场带来压力。

The State Legislature recently voted against a bill that would’ve made it illegal for towns to create legislation restricting short-term rentals.

“We are at a crisis level on the supply of rental housing,”said Nick Taylor, executive director of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast. 

    【翻译】“我们在租赁住房供应方面已处于危机境地，”大沿海地区劳动力住房联盟执行主任尼克·泰勒表示。

Without enough affordable housing in southern New Hampshire towns, “employers are having a hard time attracting employees, and workers are having a hard time finding a place to live,”Taylor said.

    【翻译】泰勒表示：“由于新罕布什尔州南部城镇缺乏足够且价格合理的住房，雇主在吸引员工方面面临困难，而员工则在寻找居住场所方面面临困难。”

However, short-term rentals also provide housing for tourists, pointed out Ryan Castle, CEO of a local association of realter. 

【生词】realter n. 指房地产经纪人、房地产中介

【翻译】然而，当地房地产经纪人协会的首席执行官瑞安·卡斯尔指出，短期租赁也为游客提供了住房选择。

“A lot of workers are servicing the tourist industry, and the tourism industry is serviced by those people coming in short term,”Castle said, “and so it’s a cyclical effect.”

【生词】cyclical adj.循环的, 周期的, 环状的

【翻译】“许多劳动者服务于旅游业，而旅游业则由短期到访的游客所支撑，”卡斯尔表示，“因此这便是一种周期性效应。”

Short-term rentals themselves are not the crux of the issue, said Keren Horn, an expert on affordable housing policy. 

【生词】crux n.（问题的）中心，核心，结症, 坩埚, 关键, 症结

【翻译】经济适用房政策专家Keren Horn 表示，短期租赁本身并非问题的核心。

“I think individuals being able to rent out their second home is a good thing. If it’s their vacation home anyway, and it’s just empty, why can’t you make money off it?”Horn said. 

【翻译】我认为个人能够出租他们的第二居所是一件好事。如果那确实是他们用于度假的住宅，而且目前只是空置着，那么他们为何不能从中获利呢？霍恩表示。

Issues arise, however, when developers attempt to create large-scale short-term rental facilities -- de facto hotels -- to bypass taxes and regulations. 

【生词】de facto adj.<拉>实际的，事实上

bypass n.旁道, v.越过，绕开

【翻译】然而，当开发商试图建造大规模短期租赁设施——即事实上的酒店——以规避税收与监管规定时，便会引发问题。

“I think the question is, shouldn’t a developer who’s really building a hotel, but disguising it as not a hotel, be treated and taxed and regulated like a hotel?”Horn said.

【生词】disguise v.伪装，乔装, 掩饰; n.伪装，装扮, 伪装物，化妆用具

【翻译】“我认为问题在于：如果一名开发者确实正在建造酒店，却将其伪装成非酒店性质，那么他是否仍应像酒店经营者一样受到对待、征税并受到监管？”霍恩表示。

At the end of 2018, governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts signed a bill to rein in those potential investor-buyers. 

【生词】rein in v.放慢，止住，控制, 勒

【翻译】2018年底，马萨诸塞州州长查理·贝克签署了一项法案，旨在约束这些潜在的投资者买家。

The bill requires every rental host to register with the state mandates they carry insurance, and opens the potential for local taxes on top of a new state levy. 

【生词】levy n.征兵, 征税; v.征收，索取, 征税，征集

Boston took things even further, requiring renters to register with the city’s Inspectional Services Department.

【翻译】波士顿市采取了更为严格的措施，要求租户向该市检验服务局办理登记。

Horn said similar registration requirements could benefit struggling cities and towns, but “if we want to make a change in the housing market, the main one is we have to build a lot more.”

【翻译】霍恩表示，类似的登记要求或可使面临困境的城镇受益，但“若我们真想改变住房市场现状，关键之举便是大幅增加住房建设规模”。