单选题：The rise of the sharing economyA) Last night 40,000 people

The rise of the sharing economy
A) Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000 rooms in 30,000cities in 192 countries．They chose their rooms and paid for everything online．But their beds wereprovided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain．Hosts and guests were matched up byAirbnb, a firm based in San Francisco．Since its launch in 2008 more than 4 million people haveused it--2.5 million of them in 2012 alone．It is the most prominent example of a huge new "sharingeconomv", in which people rent beds, cars, boats and other assets directly from each other, co-ordinated via the internet.
B) You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (家庭旅店), owning a timeshare(分时度假房) or participating in a car pool．But technology has reduced transaction costs, makingsharing assets cheaper and easier than ever--and therefore possible on a much larger scale．The bigchange is the availability of more data about people and things, which allows physical assets to bedivided and consumed as services．Before the internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parkingspace from someone else was feasible, but was usually more trouble than it was worth．Now~
websites such as Airbnb, RelayRides and SnapGoods match up owners and renters; smartphones withGPS let people see where the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a way to checkup on people and build trust; and online payment systems handle the billing.
What's mine is yours, for a fee
C) Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites letindividuals act as an ad hoc (临时的) taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel (精品酒店) as and when it suits them．Just go online or download an app．The model works for items that areexpensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them．Bedrooms andcars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in Sweden, fields inAustralia and washing machines in France．As advocates of the sharing economy like to put it,access trumps (胜过) ownership.
D）Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peer rental marketalone is worth $26 billion．Broader definitions of the sharing economy include peer-to-peer lending orputting a solar panel on your roof and selling power back to the grid (电网)．And it is not justindividuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spare offices and idle machines, too.But the core of the sharing economy is people renting things from each other.
E) Such "collaborative (合作的) consumption" is a good thing for several reasons．Owners make moneyfrom tmderused assets．Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out their homes do so for anaverage of 58 nights a year, making $9,300．Car owners who rent their vehicles to others usingRelayRides make an average of ＄250 a month; some make more than $1,000．Renters, meanwhile, payless than they would if they bought the item themselves, or turned to a traditional provider such as ahotel or car-hire firm．And there are environmental benefits, too: renting a car when you need it,rather than owning one, means fewer cars are required and fewer resources must be devoted tomaking them.
F) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm．Curmudgeons(倔脾气的人 ) who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay at conventional hotels．Forothers, the web fosters trust．As well as the background checks carried out by platform owners,online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both parties to each transaction, which makes iteasy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and surfboard-wreckers．By using Facebook and othersocial networks, participants can check each other out and identify friends (or Mends of Mends) incommon．An Airbnb user had her apartment trashed in 2011．But the remarkable thing is how wellthe system usually, works.
Peering into the future
G) The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago．At first,people were worried about security．But having made a successful purchase from, say, Amazon, theyfelt safe buying elsewhere．Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire service for the first time encouragespeople to try other offerings．Next, consider eBay．Having started out as a peer-to-peer marketplace,it is now dominated by professional "power sellers" (many of whom started out as ordinary eBayusers)．The same may happen with the sharing economy, which also provides new opporttmities forenterprise．Some people have bought cars solely to rent them out, for example.
H) Existing rental businesses are getting involved too．Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a sharingrival．So do GM and Daimler, two carmakers．In future,.companies may develop hybrid (混合的 )models, listing excess capacity (whether vehicles, equipment or office space) on peer-to-peer rentalsites．In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced the old ways entirely．But theyhave often changed them．Just as internet shopping forced Wal-mart and Tesco to adapt, so onlinesharing will shake up transport, tourism, equipment-hire and more.
I) The main worry is regulatory uncertainty．Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for example? InAmsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels．In some Americancities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by traditional taxi fLrms．The dangeris that although some rules need to be updated to protect consumers from harm, existing rentalbusinesses will try to destroy competition．People who rent out rooms should pay tax, of course, butthey should not be regulated like a Ritz-Carlton hotel．The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than adeouate.
J) The sharing economy is the latest example of the internet's value to consumers．This emerging modelis now big and disruptive (颠覆性的) enough for regulators and companies to have woken up to it.That is a sign of its immense potential．It is time to start caring about sharing.
Sharing items such as cars does good to the environment.