【中级英语】“共享雨伞”出师不利

China's sharing economy has been booming, with companies offering anything from bicycles and basketballs to smartphone battery banks on a rental basis. Customers make a small deposit and get to use the item for a set period of time for a daily fee, with penalty fees put in place for every day that they fail to return the product after the deadline. It's a simple business model, and market data shows that consumers see sharing as a cheap and convenient way to reduce waste and avoid clutter. However, it doesn't always work out as well as entrepreneurs hope.
中国的共享经济正在蓬勃发展，许多公司开始提供自行车、篮球、智能手机充电宝等各种物品租借服务。顾客只需存一小笔押金，按日付费，就可以在特定时间段使用这些产品，每天到期后未能归还便要支付罚款。这种商业模式简单明了，而市场数据表明，消费者认为共享经济既实惠又方便，可以减少浪费避免麻烦。然而，共享经济并不总是如企业家期望的那样成功。

Sharing E Umbrella, a new umbrella sharing company based in Shenzhen, China, recently announced that it had lost most of the 300,000 umbrellas it made available since it launched in April.
总部位于中国深圳的共享雨伞公司“共享e伞”近日宣布，该公司自今年4月以来投放的30万把共享雨伞大部分已经丢失。

Inspired by the success of the bicycle sharing model and thinking that “everything on the street can now be shared”, Zhao Shuping, a businessman from Shenzhen, founded the Sharing E Umbrella, an umbrella sharing service, in April. By the end of June, his business had already launched in 11 major Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou. But while picking up the umbrellas was relatively simple, as they were made available at bus and subway stations, the return policy turned out to be a different matter entirely.
深圳企业家赵书平从共享单车模式的成功中受到启发，认为“满大街的东西都可以共享”，于是今年4月他创办了共享雨伞公司“共享e伞”。截至6月底，他投放的共享雨伞已经遍及中国11个主要城市，其中包括上海、南京和广州。由于公交站和地铁站都提供共享雨伞，所以取伞相对容易，但是退伞却完全不同了。

“Umbrellas are different from bicycles,” Mr. Zhao told Chinese news site ThePaper.cn. “Bikes can be parked anywhere, but with an umbrella you need railings or a fence to hang it on.”
赵书平告诉澎湃新闻网：“雨伞跟自行车不一样，自行车它可以立在那个地方，但雨伞没有护栏挂、没有一个支点，是没办法单独站在那里的。”（注：新闻原话）

So instead of bothering to return the umbrellas back to a station, a lot of people just took them home, and Sharing E Umbrella has reportedly lost track of most of the 300,000 umbrellas it had in circulation. Considering that borrowing umbrellas requires a 19 yuan deposit, with a fee of 0.50 yuan per half an hour usage, and Zhao estimates that he loses 60 yuan per lost umbrella, the company is now in the red, but the Chinese entrepreneur is not ready to call it quits just yet.
所以，很多人不愿把雨伞送回车站，而是直接带回家中。据报道，市面上投放的30万把雨伞大部分已经难觅踪影。由于借伞需要支付19元押金，而使用费为半小时0.5元，赵书平估计，每丢失一把伞的损失在60元。虽然“共享e伞”公司现在处于亏损状态，但他还没打算放弃。