新奇事件簿 打的软件的价格战

A price war has broken out across the world among taxi companies. There is increasing competition for passengers because of the different apps that can order taxis. Some taxi companies are cutting their fares by more than half to beat competitor companies. The world's biggest taxi-booking app is called Uber. It was founded in 2009 and now operates in over 200 cities across the globe. Many drivers of London's traditional black taxis are unhappy with taxi apps. They argue that drivers of app cabs are too inexperienced to drivetaxis in London. Black cab drivers must pass a difficult test on their knowledge of London's streets to get their taxi-driving license¹. They have slashed² some of their fares from $45 to $7.50

出租车公司的价格战正在全世界蔓延。由于不同的打车应用软件，各家企业正在抢占客户。许多出租车公司通过超过半价的优惠来与其他公司竞争。全球最大的出租车预定软件是优步。优步于2009年成立，它的应用软件遍布在全世界200多个城市之中。许多伦敦的传统黑车司机对这一软件非常反感。他们认为应用软件上的汽车司机对伦敦并不熟悉。黑车司机必须通过伦敦的道路知识考试，这种考试非常难，只有这样他们才能获得出租车驾驶执照。他们把价格从45美金降低到了7.5美金。

The U.K. boss of Uber said the price war would benefit his company and result in higher profits, saying: "There's a lot of competition over the app makers³ and, to a certain degree, you need to think of things that you can do to stand out from the crowd." London black cab driver Anthony Street says business remains⁴ good despite the app companies. He said: "There are lots of technologies that are changing things for us, but it's up to drivers." One of New York's biggest taxi companies has called for Uber to have its license suspended. It says Uber is illegally using data collected from passengers. In Singapore, the government has just announced that it would start regulating taxi app companies.

优步的英国董事长说价格战将让他的公司获利，他说：“在某种程度上，软件开发商之间的竞争非常常见，你必须做一些擅长的事情，只有这样你才能确保脱颖而出。”伦敦黑车司机安东尼说尽管出现了一些软件公司，但是我们的生意还不错。他说：“技术正在改变我们，但是这也要取决于司机。”纽约最大的出租车公司要求吊销优步的执照。他说优步正在以非法方式获取乘客信息。在新加坡，政府刚刚宣布将管理打车软件公司。

1 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

2 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。