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The World of Wiki 维基世界任遨游

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Type a random subject into Google, or any other search engine, and take a look at the top sites that it returns. There it is, near the top of almost every search: Wikipedia. No matter what information you’re searching for, Wikipedia is the best place to start.

随意在Google或任何一个搜索引擎键入一个主题，再瞧瞧搜寻到的前几个网站，你会发现几乎每次搜寻结果顶端十之八九都是「维基百科」这个网站。不论你要找什么信息，「维基百科」都是最好的开始。

It all began in 2001 when Jimmy Wales, an American dot-com entrepreneur, ___1___ Wikipedia, which would become the world’s most successful online collaborative project. Such an endeavor was unprecedented in the online community – an encyclopedia that could be written and edited by anyone at any time! But ___2___ by the motivation to create “a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all knowledge,” Wales was sure it could work.

一切皆始于2001年，一位美国网络企业家吉米．韦尔斯创办了维基百科，而此网站后来成为世界上最成功的在线合作计划。这项创举在网络社群中可是前所未有的：一部任何人在任何时候皆可编写的百科全书！驱使韦尔斯创立「维基百科」的动机，是为了创造「一个地球上所有人都能免费获得知识的管道」，他确信这一定行得通。

Wikipedia has blossomed, and now has over six million articles in 250 languages, and ranks ___3___ the twelve most-visited websites in the world. Because it can constantly be revised and updated, the information can, potentially, always be up-to-date – something a regular print encyclopedia could never deliver. Wikipedia is a ___4___ convenient source, so much so that it has even been cited by American judges in their rulings. Because Wikipedia’s content is written by laymen, criticism has ___5___ for its accuracy. However, a study done by the science journal Nature found that Wikipedia is nearly as accurate on scientific entries as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

「维基百科」已蓬勃发展，现有六百多万篇以250种语言写成的文章，且名列全世界浏览人数最多的前十二名网站之一。由于该网站内容可不断被修改、更新，因此信息可能都会是最新的，这可是一般印刷的百科全书无法办到的。「维基百科」是极便利的信息来源，方便到连美国法官在判决里都引用过该网站信息。由于「维基百科」的内容皆由外行人编写，因此有人批评其正确性不足。然而，科学期刊《Nature》的研究中发现，「维基百科」的科学性条目几乎和《大英百科全书》一样正确。

Wales has also taken Wikipedia in new directions, ___6___ out into other similar collaborative projects. The Wikipedia Commons is a huge repository of free content images, sound files, and other multimedia that anyone can use, or ___7___ their own files to. And with Wikibooks, people around the world access free textbooks, which can be edited by anyone. With Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales’s various Wiki-projects, the global sharing of information has been taken to new heights, allowing people to find anything they want at the click of a mouse.

韦尔斯已将「维基百科」带至新的方向，拓展了类似的姊妹网站。「维基共享资源」是免费影像、声音文件和多媒体资源的巨大贮藏库，任何人都能使用或贡献自己的档案。而有了「维基教科书」，全世界的人便可使用人人皆能编辑的免费教科书。「维基百科」和吉米．韦尔斯各种不同的维基计划已将全球信息共享带领至新境界，使每个人只要点一下鼠标就能找到他们想要的东西。

−by Joe Henley

Vocabulary

单词发音

random [ˋrændəm] adj. 随便的，任意的

entrepreneur [͵ɑntrəprəˋnɝ] n. 企业家；事业创办者

collaborative [kəˋlæbərətɪv] adj. 合作的；协作的

encyclopedia [ɪnˌsaɪkləˈpidɪə] n. 百科全书

motivation [͵motəˋveʃən] n. 动机; 原因

blossom [ˋblɑsəm] v. 兴旺, 发展

cite [saɪt] v. 引用

multimedia [mʌltɪˋmidɪə] n. 多媒体

take … to new heights  将...达到极致

More Information

单词发音

dot-com 形容由网络进行交易与获利的公司

endeavor [ɪnˋdɛvɚ] n.【正式】努力; 奋力

access [ˋæksɛs] n. 进入；接近的机会

up-to-date  最新的；包含最新信息的

deliver [dɪˋlɪvɚ] v. 履行（诺言）；实现（期望）

so much so that 到如此程度以致... to such a great degree

ruling [ˋrulɪŋ] n. 裁决; 裁定

content [ˋkɑntənt] n.内容，要旨

layman [ˋlemən] n. 外行人，门外汉

entry [ˋɛntrɪ] n. 词条

branch out 扩展（业务等）to expand or extend one's interests

repository [rɪˋpɑzə͵torɪ] n. 博物馆；陈列室; 贮藏处

Answer