[慢速VOA] 交换网站与以货易货(1)[080815]
No Money Down: Give-and-Take Sites and Bartering Exchanges (1/2)
Whoever said you cannot get something for nothing has not searched the Internet lately. An increasing number of Web sites offer users a chance to give things away and get things for free. The goal is to keep useful things from being thrown away. This helps people and keeps waste out of the environment.
The largest give-and-take Web site is Freecycle.org. Deron Beal started Freecycle as a non-profit organization in two thousand three. The site says it has more than five and a half million members in more than seventy-five countries. Joining is free. And all the goods offered on the site are free without any conditions.
Each group is supervised by a small number of moderators. They enforce the rules. For example, members can only make a request for something once a week. And everything on the site must be for all ages.
We spoke to a moderator in the Washington, D.C. area. She told us that there were about one hundred members in her local group when she joined in two thousand three.
