第12题:
问答题
The emergence of the Uber digital tide finder and the regulation questions it tends to raise have inspired debates, protests and supports around the world. The following are comments on legalization of ride-hailing service both from officials and ordinary citizens. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the comments from both sides; 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.Government Authorities Maranda Gibson, a representative from Los Angeles Department of Transportation: The drivers for Uber are not required to pass background checks or have their vehicles inspected for safety. They don’t have to pay the same taxes, insurance fees and licensing fees that taxi drivers do. While taxi drivers go through an extensive training course called “the Knowledge”, where drivers must learn 320 routes covering 25,000 streets, as well as important buildings and points of interest, Uber drivers can come straight with a car and GPS. Boris Johnson, a British politician: I have sympathy for taxi drivers, but it would be “difficult” for the government to ban Uber. We’ve gone to the high court to get a ruling on this, and the issue is basically: is the driver’s mobile in the cab equivalent to a taxi meter? I can see why my learned friends might think that it is, because it’s receiving data about, or it’s calculating, the distance and time and the fare. And there are other lawyers who say that it isn’t, and that was the advice of the counsel to Transport for London. And so we’ve got a legal problem.Ordinary Citizens Mary Williams: I think as long as the Uber drivers have the necessary background checks done (they don’t have any warrants, are not reckless drivers, and are properly insured) then they should be allowed to offer their services. The transportation market is changing as it should with technology. I think it’s great that Uber users are able to see their driver’s ratings and can hail them quicker than they can get a cab. It’s just a different way of doing business. Matthew Yglesias: I think it’s pretty obvious that Uber does in fact need to be regulated. And regulated pretty heavily. After all, here’s the business: You’ve got people cruising around cities in medium sized metal boxes capable of traveling at high speeds and powered by burning gasoline. Left unregulated, these vehicles would poison the air and crush huge numbers of innocent pedestrians. Which is why it’s good that the federal government regulates what kind of automobiles are considered safe to drive and regulates what kind of vehicle emissions are acceptable, and it’s why state and local governments regulate both who is allowed to drive cars (with driver’s licenses), under what circumstances (with drunk driving laws), and of course what you’re allowed to do with a vehicle (with road rules). These are important things for the government to do. Daniel Tencer: The regulatory issue around Uber is whether the rules governing rides-for-hire need to be drastically different than the rules governing driving-yourself-around. But you don’t need rules that specifically discriminate against rides for hire. Anything you want to do around driving yourself is presumptively legal, and you want to do around hiring someone else to drive you is presumptively illegal. But by all means, regulate cars-for-hire, just regulate them the same way you regulate the other cars.
正确答案:
【参考范文】
Uber Digital Ride Finder Should be Regulated Ride-bailing service has aroused a hot debate. Uber, as an example, has undoubtedly benefited citizens greatly, but meanwhile, it has raised many regulation questions. Different officials hold different opinions. Some of them think that Uber drivers don’t have to learn so many routes and names of important buildings as taxi drivers do, which would be detrimental to taxi drivers’ income and consumers’ interests. The others feel sympathy for taxi drivers though, they think it is hard to ban Uber at present due to the lack of a clearly stated law. In some citizens’ opinion, the emergence of Ride-bailing service like Uber is because of modern technology and law loopholes. And most citizens think it is necessary to take measures to regulate such services. As far as I am concerned, it is very urgent to set up the regulation of Uber
All the opinions are reasonable. Uber drivers don’t need any qualification, which enables them to save lots of problems and make more extra money. That will definitely, to some extent, cause damages to the taxi drivers’ interests. At present, though there are not perfect related regulations and Uber cannot be banned overnight, it is high time for the government to set out to think about that for the sake of common people. Safety comes first for transportation, so even Uber service should follow specific laws and rules. Besides, all related parties’ interests should get protected, including the taxi drivers’ and passengers’ or citizens’. Finally, the protection of the environment should also be taken into consideration. More measures should be taken to reduce as much greenhouse gas emission as possible and realize convenient transportation of all the citizens.
In short, it is impractical to ban the Uber service, but more strict and careful regulations can be carried out to ensure sound transportation.
解析:
【审题构思】
文章给出了两类人对Uber合法性的评价,包括政府官员和普通市民,其中两名官员的意见并不完全一致,但市民的观点比较统一,对立法监管Uber持支持态度,根据题目的要求,考生可采取如下安排:
第一段:从两方面总结分述政府官员对Uber的看法,即一些官员认为Uber服务损害出租车司机的利益,另一些官员对Uber是否合法存在质疑;总结市民观点,最后提出自己观点。
第二段:对官员及市民的观点分别进行阐述。
第三段:对自己的观点进行论证。
第四段:总结全文。