The Last Best Place(美国蒙大拿州的别称) on the Internet. By Richard Cooke. W.W. Norton & Company; 320 pages(页数); $29.99. Granta Books; £18.99
《互联网上最后的最佳之地》。理查德·库克著。W.W.诺顿公司出版；320页；29.99美元。格兰塔图书出版；18.99英镑。
Written on nearly 23,000 rolls of manuscript, the Yongle encyclopedia(《永乐大典》，明朝编纂的巨型百科全书), commissioned(受委托；下令编纂) by a Ming emperor in the 15th century, was the largest reference work in history. It held that title for around 600 years—until Wikipedia, a startup run out of(从……运营；在……办公) a chaotic office in Florida, overtook(超过，超越) it after just six years in business. Today the collaborative online encyclopedia runs to(达到（数量）) 30bn words in more than 300 languages. Its Latin edition alone has more articles than the “Encyclopedia Britannica(《大英百科全书》，历史悠久的英语百科全书)”.
《永乐大典》由明朝一位皇帝下令编纂，写在近2.3万卷手稿上，是历史上最大的参考书。它保持这一头衔约600年——直到维基百科，一家在佛罗里达州一间混乱办公室里运营的初创公司，仅用六年时间就超越了它。如今，这部协作式在线百科全书用300多种语言写就，字数达300亿。仅其拉丁语版本的文章数量就超过了《大英百科全书》。
As Wikipedia celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, it faces big problems. It is shedding(流失；脱落) both readers and volunteer editors. It is at the centre of(处于……的中心) an escalating(不断升级的) culture war. And AI poses an existential(生存的；存在主义的) threat. As Richard Cooke, an Australian journalist, observes in a thought-provoking new book, Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia ever written by humans—and it is likely to hold that title for ever.(正如澳大利亚记者理查德·库克在一本发人深省的新书中所言，维基百科是人类有史以来编写的最大的百科全书——而且它很可能永远保持这一头衔。) (Any future rival is sure to be made with the help of AI.)
今年维基百科迎来25周年庆，却面临巨大问题。它正在流失读者和志愿编辑。它处于一场不断升级的文化战争的中心。而人工智能构成了生存威胁。正如澳大利亚记者理查德·库克在一本发人深省的新书中所言，维基百科是人类有史以来编写的最大的百科全书——而且它很可能永远保持这一头衔。（任何未来的竞争对手都必定是在人工智能的帮助下制作的。）