Earlier this month, I visited a hilly corner of North Carolina to spend time with family friends. As we sat around the kitchen table, a former musician whom I shall call Dave revealed that he had recently started an entrepreneurial sideline to supplement his meagre family income. During part of the week, he works in a local pawnshop but he does not lend out cash. Instead, Dave fills out application forms for people who want to buy firearms — but cannot read or write. He only charges a few dollars for this but the service is so popular that it provides a steady income. “Lots of people round here can’t read and write,” Dave told me with a rueful laugh. “But they all want guns. So they pay me to do that — I use their driving licences to get all the details.”
本月早些时候，我去了美国北卡莱罗纳州一个多山的地方探访亲友。就在我们围坐在厨房桌子边时，一位曾经的音乐人（姑且叫他戴夫(Dave)吧）说，为了贴补微薄的家庭收入，他最近开创了一项副业。每周部分时间里，他在当地一家当铺工作，不过并不是在那出借现金，而是帮那些想购买枪支却不能读写的人填写申请表格。他每单只收几美元，不过由于该服务大受欢迎，这项业务为他带来了稳定的收入。戴夫苦笑着对我说：“这里许多人都不会读写。不过他们都想买枪。因此，他们付钱给我让我做这事——我用他们的驾照得到所需的所有具体信息。”