第三十篇 Wikipedia1 Imposes New Curbs on Editing Articles
　　Wikipedia, the famous online encyclopedia, is looking to impose morediscipline 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 ha s 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 Erie Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at the Santa Clara University School of Law.
　　Goldman envisions a future Wikipedia crated by a relatively small group of dedicated editors. Under the current model, he said, there simply aren't enough volunteers to catch all errors.
　　詞匯：
　　curb n. 約束；限制
　　high-profile adj. 引人注目的
　　vandalism n. 故意破壞
　　mar vt. 損壞（某事物）；毀壞（公共財(cái)產(chǎn)等）的行為
　　rogue adj. 刁滑的；喜歡制造麻煩的
　　deface n. 損壞（某物）的外觀
　　veneer n. 虛假的外表；裝飾
　　drawbridge n. 吊橋
　　philanthropic adj. 博愛(ài)的；與慈善事業(yè)有關(guān)的
　　注釋?zhuān)?/strong>
　　1. Wikipedia：中文名為維基百科，是全世界最大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)百科全書(shū)。
　　2. 該句意為維基百科仍然沒(méi)有對(duì)網(wǎng)民關(guān)閉，人們?nèi)匀豢梢詤⑴c編纂詞條。
　　練習(xí)：
　　1. What is the latest change of Wikipcdia7
　　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
　　答案與題解：
　　1．C 從前三段可知，雖然現(xiàn)在每個(gè)人仍然都能編輯維基百科中的詞條，但其中的一些頁(yè)面在得到一個(gè)“經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富”的編輯批準(zhǔn)前不會(huì)變化。
　　2．C 第七段說(shuō)，維基百科新近出臺(tái)的限制條件冒著降低網(wǎng)民合法編輯詞條的積極性這一風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，為了規(guī)避這一風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，維基百科把所謂的“經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的編輯”標(biāo)準(zhǔn)設(shè)定得很低。
　　3．D Robert Byrd 是美國(guó)民主黨的參議員，最近維基百科中關(guān)于他的詞條被人篡改，錯(cuò)誤地宣布他已經(jīng)死亡。
　　4．C 從文中可知維基百科現(xiàn)在的對(duì)編輯詞條的限制條件過(guò)于寬松，以致造成了許多尷尬情況發(fā)生。
　　5．D 從最后一段可知，Pierre Omidyar 是eBay 的創(chuàng)始人，因此D 為正確答案。
　　"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 drawbridge2. 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.