德國妓院爲騎車顧客打折 應對危機
Part of Berlin's red-light scene is going green. One bordello, hoping to stave off falling demand in the economic crisis, has begun offering discounts to customers who pedal bicycles to the door.
"It's very difficult to find parking around here, and this option is better for our environment," said Thomas Goetz, who owns the brothel Maison d'Envie, or House of Desire.
Local residents in Prenzlauer Berg — a part of former East Berlin now home to scores of trendy boutiques, restaurants and clubs — had staunchly supported the Green party in recent elections and have welcomed the bordello's offer to emphasize the environment.
The bordellos in the capital of Germany, where prostitution is legal, have seen business suffer with the global financial crisis. Patrons have become more frugal, and there are fewer potential customers coming to the city for business trips and conferences.
But Maison d'Envie has seen its business begin to return since it began offering the euro5 ($7.50) discount in July, Goetz said.
To qualify, customers must show the receptionist either a bicycle padlock key or proof they used public transit to get to the neighborhood. That knocks the price for 45 minutes in a room, for example, to euro65 from euro70.
Those who arrive on foot, however, are out of luck.
"We haven't found a way for people to prove they have walked here," Goetz explained.
Other brothels have tried different incentives to cope with the economic downturn. One Berlin bordello offered a flat-rate for an unlimited time before officials' concerns over prostitutes' rights and cleanliness in the club forced them to rescind the offer.
The 450,000 prostitutes working in Germany, some 10,000 of whom are in Berlin, have the same legal rights and social benefits as people in other professions.
德國的部分“紅燈區”正在“變綠”。有一家妓院開始向騎車前來的顧客提供打折優惠，以期避免因經濟危機而引發生意蕭條。
這家妓院名爲“慾望之屋”，老闆托馬斯•戈茨說：“這附近很難找到停車位，而且騎車也更加環保。”
普倫茨勞貝格當地居民在最近的德國大選中力挺綠黨（譯者注：以保護人類生存環境爲宗旨的政黨），他們對妓院的此項環保之舉表示歡迎。普倫茨勞貝格區曾是東柏林的一部分，如今是衆多流行服飾店、餐館和俱樂部的聚集地。
德國首都柏林的妓院受到全球金融危機的影響，顧客們變得更加節約，來該市進行商務旅行和參加會議的潛在顧客也隨之減少。在德國，性服務業是合法行業。
戈茨稱，自7月份推出5歐元（約合7.5美元）折扣的促銷活動以來，“慾望之屋”的生意開始恢復。
若要獲得優惠，顧客需向接待人員出示自行車鑰匙或乘坐公共交通工具前往此區的票據憑證。推出這項優惠活動後，之前45分鐘70歐元的服務降到了65歐元。
但那些步行而來的顧客就沒這麼幸運了。
戈茨解釋說：“我們還沒找到能證明顧客步行來到這裏的辦法。”
其它妓院也採取了各種優惠手段應對經濟危機。此前柏林一家妓院推出了一項不限時享受性服務的促銷活動，但之後由於政府擔心妓女的權益和健康受損，該活動被叫停。
德國共有45萬名性從業者，其中約一萬名在柏林從事服務。這些性從業者與其它行業的人享有同等的法定權利和社會福利。
Vocabulary:
red-light scene:紅燈區
bordello：A house of prostitution（妓院）
stave off：to prevent in time; forestall（避開，延遲）
boutique：a small shop or a small specialty department within a larger store, esp. one that sells fashionable clothes and accessories or a special selection of other merchandise（專賣流行衣服的小商店）
padlock:掛鎖
out of luck: unlucky; unfortunate（運氣不好）
flat-rate：統一費用
rescind:to officially state that a law, contract, decision, etc. is no longer valid （廢除；取消）
