第三十篇 Wikipedial Imposes New Curbs On Editing Articles (C级)
Wikipedia, the famous online encyclopedia, is looking to impose more discipline with new restrictions on the editing of articles.
The latest changes come as Wikipedia tries to balance a need for credibility and a desire for openness.
While anyone can still edit entries, the site is testing pages that won’t register changes until they are approved by an experienced Wikipedia editor.
If the site’s users respond well to the test run, the new restrictions will apply to all entries for living people in the next few weeks.
The idea is to block the kind of high-profile vandalism that has marred some pages.
In one of the most recent embarrassments, US Democratic Senators Robert Byrd was prematurely declared dead by rogue editors.
Still, Wikipedia risks discouraging legitimate editing if restrictions on changes or additions become too burdensome, keeping articles from getting better or keeping up with events. That may be especially true on more obscure pages with fewer active volunteers to approve edits timely.
Aware of the risks, Wikipedia has set the criteria for “experienced editor” status relatively low. Users who are registered for a few days can give changes the OK, said Jay Walsh, a spokesman for the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the site.
A more uniform system for filtering changes on Wikipedia represents a step back from the site’s original philosophy, which called for harnessing the collective knowledge of volunteer editors without any major restrictions.
But it is not the first time Wikipedia has attached some strings.
The same flagging process, for example, has been imposed on all entries in the German-language Wikipedia for more than a year.
On the English site, too, high-profile pages that are likely to be defaced, such as Michael Jackson’s, have been tightly restricted.
Some observers believe Wikipedia must continue tightening editing policies if it wants to gain credibility.
“I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
Goldman envisions a future Wikipedia curated by a relatively small group of dedicated editors. Under the current model, he said, there simply aren’t enough volunteers to catch all errors.
“My hope is that Wikipedia still exists and is still considered a useful site,” Goldman said. “But it will be at that point a very tightly controlled site. It won’t have that veneer of a site that anyone can contribute to. They haven’t closed the drawbridge. People can still get in. But it keeps going up and up and up.”
Separately, the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic investment group started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, said on Tuesday it is committing $2 million over two years to the Wikimedia Foundation. Omidyar Network’s grant will support Wikimedia’s goals of bringing free educational content to people around the world and supporting more people to help create that content.
练习：
1. What is the latest change of Wikipedia?
A) Now not everybody can edit entries in Wikipedia.
B) Fewer restrictions will be posed on the edition of entries.
C) Some of the pages will not register changes without the approval of an experienced Wikipedia editor.
D) All entries for living people will not be edited from now on.
2. Why has Wikipedia set the criteria for “experienced editor” status relatively low?
A) Because experienced editors are rare.
B) Because a lot of people are interested in the editing of entries.
C) Because stricter criteria may discourage legitimate editing.
D) Because people receive no pay for their editing.
3. Which statement about Robert Byrd is false?
A) He is a member of American Democratic Party.
B) He is a member of the Senate.
C) He was wrongly declared dead by Wikipedia.
D) He used to edits entries in Wikipedia.
4. Which of the following statements about Wikipedia is true?
A) This is the first time that Wikipedia imposes restrictions on the editing of entries.
B) People can still edit all the entries on the English site freely.
C) The current discipline imposed on the editing of articles is too lax so that a lot of embarrassments have been caused.
D) Wikipedia is now firmly sticking to its original philosophy.
5. Pierre Omidyar is
A) a senator
B) a spokesman of Wikipedia
C) a university professor
D) an enterpriser
2010职称英语综合阅读新增文章-第30篇参考答案
C C D C D
2010职称英语综合阅读新增文章-第30篇参考译文
第三十篇 维基百科对编辑文章实行新限制
维基百科，著名的在线百科全书，正在进一步提高对文章编辑的限制条件。
雏基的最新的修改是尽力平衡对可信度的要求和对开放性的需要。
虽然任何人仍可以编辑条目，该网站正在测试的网页，将不能注册修改，直至他们由有经验的维基百科的编辑核准。
如果网站的用户对试运行反应良好，新的限制在下几周内将适用于所有条目。
这样做是为了阻止点击率高的那种网页破坏了其他网页。
在最近发生的一件尴尬事是，美国民主党参议员罗伯特伯德被无赖的编辑过早地宣布死亡。
而且．如果限制改变或增加，成为一种负担，不能使文章变得更好或跟上事件，那么维基百科面临着令人沮丧的合法编辑的危险。这可能是真实的，尤其是较少的志愿者活动对更加隐蔽的网页编辑进行及时认可。
认识到这种危险，维基百科为”资深编辑器”制定的标准相对较低。非盈利的维基基金会发言人，网站运行者杰伊沃尔什说，已经注册过一段时间的用户可以适应这种变化。
为维基百科的逐渐的变化制定更加统一的制度代表了源于网络初始哲学的前进的一步，这个系统要求驾驭志愿编辑者的集体知识而不受任何重大限制但它已经不是第一次维基百科附加了一些限制。
同样的标志性的改变，已经用于德语维基百科的所有条目超过一年了。
在英文网站，点击率高的网页可能被注销，如关于迈克尔杰克逊的网页，已经严格限制。
一些观察家认为，要想获得信誉维基百科的编辑必须继续紧缩政策。
“我只是等待另一只鞋子掉下来，”哥的曼说，他是圣克拉拉大学法学院高科技法律研究所主任。
哥的曼预计维基百科将来会由专门的相对较小编辑组策划。他说，只是根据目前的模式，没有足够的志愿者捕捉指出所有的错误。
“我的希望是，维基仍然存在，并且仍然被认为是一个有用的网站” 哥的曼表示。”但是，这将是非常严格控制的网站。它不会有任何人都可以做出贡献的某一网站的饰面。他们没有关闭吊桥。人们仍然可以进去，但吊桥在持续上涨，并一直上升。”
此外，奥米迪亚网络，由皮瑞奥米迪亚创始的一个慈善投资集团，周二表示，他两年多来对维基媒体基金会投入了200万美元。奥米迪亚网络的赠款将支持维基的目标，使世界各地人民获得免费教育内容，并帮助更多的人创造教育的内容。
2010年 职称英语考试教材 现货已到，先到先得，欲购从速！
