时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:英语解说豆知识2011年


英语课
 Wikipedia is one of the most important websites on the Internet today, but you might be surprised to learn that it began as a side project of another online encyclopedia 1. That was called Nupedia, to be a traditional encyclopedia written by experts, free and online, but only one person had final publishing authority and it wasn’t quite taking off. 
As a founder 2 of Nupedia, I led the group to establish a farm team of sorts for future Nupedia articles. We used a new software platform to make collaboration 3 easy – the Wiki, Wikipedia. 
It happened to be the perfect way to write many pages very quickly. Soon enough, Nupedia couldn’t keep up and Wikipedia took center stage. We were creating not just a free content encyclopedia but a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Other language editions appeared quickly, over 270 at last count, and it was soon followed by sister projects like Wikisource, Wikinews and Wikitionary. 
In 2003 I created the Wikimedia Foundation to ensure that Wikipedia could keep up with its own growth. Wikipedia gets almost 400 million visitors every month and the list of sites visited more often is very short and very famous. 
Wikipedia celebrates its 10th anniversary in January, 2011, and in these 10 years has become one of the most popular websites in the world. I still lead the community and the Wikimedia Foundation helps us to make Wikipedia what it is today.
Who does edit Wikipedia? 
Over time, as many as 1.2 million people have contributed to Wikipedia. As of 2010 there’re more than 11 million monthly edits to all Wikipedias in all languages. According to one survey, we have about twice the proportion of PH.Ds compared to the general public. On theEnglish Wikipedia, almost 50% have no religion and 40.6% of French editors claim to believe in Pastafarianism. It would be fair to say that most Wikipedians are not average. 
One reason maybe is that editing a single page is easy but getting heavily involved is harder. The community is defined by more than 200 combined policies, guidelines and essays, to say nothing with the discussions and reviews, committees and notice boards, Wikiprojects and more. All the site content is decided 4 by Wikipedia’s volunteer contributors. The Wikimedia Foundation has no editorial role whatsoever 5.
The Foundation’s job is to keep the servers running and the lights on. But there is more to it than that. The Foundation is also growing Wikipedia’s presence worldwide:  more data centers to speed up Wikipedia worldwide and even bringing its first office outside of the United States to India. 
Wikipedia is already very popular in the west and in the north. A new challenge is going to be making Wikipedia available to the developing world as well. The Foundation is a charity and runs entirely 6 on donations – some from corporations and institutions, but the vast majority from its millions of editors and readers.
It’s incredible what has been accomplished 7 already. But Wikipedia is far from done.
As any reader knows some articles are very good but some are not. Wikipedia still needs a lot of work. Yet this is a new challenge – not just building an encyclopedia from scratch, but making it better, more accurate, more citations 8. Not just broad, but deep. There’s never been anything like Wikipedia before and its future horizon is very, very long. As Wikipedia enters its second decade, it’s up to all of us to make sure it gets even better.

1 encyclopedia
n.百科全书
  • The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
  • Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书,他什么都懂。
2 Founder
n.创始者,缔造者
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
3 collaboration
n.合作,协作;勾结
  • The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
  • He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。
4 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
5 whatsoever
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么
  • There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
  • All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
6 entirely
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
7 accomplished
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的
  • Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
  • Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。
8 citations
n.引用( citation的名词复数 );引证;引文;表扬
  • The apt citations and poetic gems have adorned his speeches. 贴切的引语和珠玑般的诗句为他的演说词增添文采。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Some dictionary writers use citations to show what words mean. 有些辞典的编纂者用引文作例证以解释词义。 来自辞典例句
学英语单词
acft
additional document
alar plate
anachitis
anhydrous sodium sulfate
audio-recording
bilithic filter
bowyang
braeden
bulletheads
cellular sheet pile wharf
choosest
chromoneucleoprotein
chrysemys pictas
Consumer Reports
coppice-wood
coral spot
cordierite-anthophyllite rock
crack border
cylic compound
denumerable at infinity
Dictyodrama
Dihydrocoumarone
duncer
error routine address
family Ascaphidae
finger buff
finger-pick
follow feed
football leagues
fuel knock
gabeller
Geneva Bureau
gigabarrels
gished
heavyhanded
homentropic
incestous
incremental pricing
indol(e)amine
indolic
initial free volume
inverse suppressor
jeanbandyite
key schedule
knot-head
light-weight concrete
liquor sauce
longisporin
Lord President of the Court of Session
macro-cracks
magnetic detent
megamonuments
microcosmographic
need it!
nongeriatric
nonzero queue
one's word is as good as one's bond
paediatric psychopharmacology
pareucalanus sewelli
party to a case
penis palmatus
perpendicular susceptibility
pet subject
piscinest
plain snap gauge
plug and chug
plug-finishing bur
poeciloblast
polyimidoylamidine
Posang-ni
proportion of resin present
providers
RAM refresh operation
rauning
reaction control
return flow line
round bordered pit
rug? vaginales
saddle coil magnet
Samut Songkhram, Changwat
Sepyron
Silfiac
spinal lemniscus
stabilizing tester
starting torque in air
static memory interface
stellaria uliginosa murr.var. undulata franch. et sav.
swifterly
sy
the fag end of sth
threofuranoside
tocofersolan
trade identity
transition transient
Triodanis perfoliata
uncarboxylated
under water fittings
unequaladdendum system
venae spinales externae posteriores
William Caxton
willians