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今天的2016考研英語(yǔ)泛讀文章又提到了優(yōu)步Uber，面對(duì)目前日益流行的打車軟件，2016考研學(xué)子必須要了解這個(gè)概念。它是在美國(guó)興起的全球即時(shí)用車軟件，通過(guò)移動(dòng)應(yīng)用程序鏈接司機(jī)與乘客，從而提供租車服務(wù)和實(shí)時(shí)共乘的服務(wù)。這種新興的模式下，公司與雇員之間的關(guān)系也產(chǎn)生了一些新的變化。來(lái)看一下具體內(nèi)容：

What is an employee? Judges in several American courts are grappling with just this question. Most notably, some drivers for Uber, an app-based taxi service, are suing to have themselves declared employees, rather than independent contractors, in a bid to gain more rights. With technology making it ever easier to farm out small tasks, and freelancing on the rise, the traditional definition of employment may eventually break down. 什么是雇工?在美國(guó)，很多法官正在糾結(jié)這個(gè)問(wèn)題。我們注意到，APP乘車服務(wù)軟件“優(yōu)步”的一些司機(jī)們正在奔走呼號(hào)，想要公司承認(rèn)他們是“雇工”而不是獨(dú)立的“合同工”，從而獲取更多的權(quán)益。鑒于技術(shù)正在使分包小任務(wù)更加容易，自由職業(yè)正在蓬勃發(fā)展，“雇工”的傳統(tǒng)定義最終可能會(huì)被打破。

Firms with employees use plans and hierarchies to get things done; those who use contractors rely on markets and prices instead. Contracting, then, is not new. But campaigners for workers' rights worry about the use of contractors in the rapidly growing app economy. Often, governments and companies provide benefits exclusively to employees. Are contractors missing out?那么，“雇工”與“合同工”有什么差別呢?一般來(lái)講，使用雇工的公司是利用“計(jì)劃”和“等級(jí)”讓事情得以解決，而使用合同工的公司依靠的是“市場(chǎng)”和“價(jià)格”。 雇傭工人為“合同工”并不是新鮮事，但領(lǐng)工人權(quán)利的造勢(shì)者擔(dān)心的是合同工在日新月異的APP經(jīng)濟(jì)中的使用。常見(jiàn)的情況是，政府和企業(yè)只給雇工提供福利。合同工正在錯(cuò)失這些福利嗎?

雇工福利主要有三大類：醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)、養(yǎng)老保險(xiǎn)和失業(yè)保險(xiǎn)(three broad categories: public pensions, health care, and unemployment insurance)。Again, there is no free lunch for workers when employers foot the bill. Numerous studies have found that the more firms pay for health insurance, the less they pay in wages. 雇主支付賬單的時(shí)候，是不會(huì)給員工提供免費(fèi)午餐的。研究表明，企業(yè)為醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)出的錢越多，以工資形式發(fā)下來(lái)的錢就越少。

這篇文章來(lái)源于2015年9月的《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》，文章最后指出Turning freelancers for firms like Uber into employees would not necessarily improve their lot優(yōu)步的自由職業(yè)者轉(zhuǎn)變成雇工不一定會(huì)改善他們的命運(yùn)。因?yàn)轸~與熊掌不可兼得you can’t pushing on a string! 泛讀是對(duì)背景知識(shí)的必要補(bǔ)充，希望2016考研的考生在忙于復(fù)習(xí)考研英語(yǔ)真題的同時(shí)，也要注意泛讀的積累。預(yù)祝大家復(fù)習(xí)順利，旗開得勝。