2020-2021学年度第5期总第723期

Lightening the load (P2)
山东省烟台第二中学 赵娜娜

Lead-in
Have you ever ordered food online? How do you feel about the deliveryman if he comes late for your order?

What do you think of the app Eleme's new button that would allow customers to prolong the time limit for their order?
 
Title prediction
Read the title and predict what the passage is about.
Lightening the load (P2)
Whose load?
Where does the load come from?
How to lighten the load?
Who should be responsible for lightening the load?

Fast-reading
Read the passage quickly and find out the two issues that led to heated discussion.

“The food deliverymen are trapped in the app.” This is the headline of an article in the Chinese magazine Portrait, which has ignited a discussion online recently.

On Sept 9, Eleme announced it would add a button to the app, which allows customers to prolong the time limit for their order, and encouraged customers to show more respect for deliverymen. But this only created more heated debate.

Reading for details
Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.
1. What challenges are deliverymen facing now?
They dart between traffic, rushing from restaurants to homes and businesses, regardless of wind or rain. To avoid deduction in pay,  deliverymen rev up, often breaking traffic rules, putting not only their own lives at risk, but the lives of others as well.

2. What contributes to their rush?
On food delivery service platforms Eleme and Meituan, the time limit and route for each delivery order is calculated by an algorithm. But the algorithm doesn’t consider real-life situations, such as red lights, speed limits and fully occupied elevators.
Based on the algorithm, the deadline for a delivery order within 2 kilometers is 30 minutes, according to China Daily. Within that time, a delivery person has to pick up the order from the restaurant and deliver it to the customer. In fact, the time limit for deliverymen has been gradually shortened in recent years.

 
A deliveryman climbed 20 floors to deliver food when the elevator broke down to avoid complaints from the customer. The deliveryman earned only 4 yuan from this order.

3. What are people’s concerns about the new app feature?
1）The company was dodging the problem and diverting attention.
The deliverymen are following rules made by their employers, and problems should be solved between the companies and their employees.
The company was putting the responsibility on the users rather than solving the problem themselves.

 
A Weibo account initiated a vote on the issue, with the result showing that the majority of the participants dislike the feature.

2）This is not the ultimate cure to solve the problem.
Even with the ability to allow more time for delivery, some users felt this would not fully address the issue. “If I give them five more minutes, they would not use the time to ride slowly or obey the traffic rules. They would only use it to take one more order.

3）Campus policy requires deliverymen to wait for students to pick up their food at the gate. Most students can’t show up in time but deliverymen need to be responsible for the delay. It’s unfair for them. It would be better to optimize the platform’s system and the delivery mechanism.

Discussion   
What are the ideal solutions to the problem?
Food delivery service platforms should optimize (优化) the platform’s system and the delivery mechanism.
Market regulatory departments should prohibit companies from setting tight schedules for their delivery drivers and keep them safe on the roads.

Exercise
Imitative writing
1. They dart (飞驰) between traffic, rushing from restaurants to homes and businesses, regardless of wind or rain.
仿写：无论支付能力如何，每个人都有权得到良好的医疗。
Everyone should have the right to get access to good medical care regardless of their ability to pay.

2. Market regulatory departments should prohibit companies from setting tight schedules for their delivery drivers and keep them safe on the roads.
仿写：昂贵的装备令许多人对这项运动望而却步。
The high cost of equipment prohibits many people from taking up this sport.

Homework
假设你是李华，你有机会写信给美团和饿了么号召他们优化平台，内容应包括：
1. 现在外卖小哥的生存现状
2. 优化平台的好处
词数：100词左右。