这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。
A top-level domain is the part of an Internet address after the dot. The most common of what are called generic top-level domains are dot-com, dot-net and dot-org. There are twenty-two generic top-level domain names currently available. But get ready for many, many more.
顶级域名是指网址中dot（即.）后面的部分。最常见的通用顶级域名包括.com，.net和.org。目前已经有22个通用顶级域名（generic top-level domains，简称gTLDs），但互联网已经为迎接更多通用顶级域名做好准备。
The international organization that controls these names will begin accepting applications for new ones in January. This will open the door to dot-just-about-anything. Brad White is with ICANN, the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
明年1月，管理这些域名的国际组织将开始接受新通用顶级域名的申请。这将为通用顶级域名打开一扇毫无限制的大门。布拉德·怀特就职于会联网名称与数字分配机构（International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers，以下简称ICANN）。
BRAD WHITE: "What we're talking about doing with the new generic top-level domain program is blowing the lid off that ceiling of twenty two. The interest is there to expand that. We no longer have to keep this to twenty-two. It can be almost any word combination. It can be in non-Latin characters, which is extremely important if you happen to speak Russian because of the Cyrillic alphabet, or Arabic, or Chinese."
怀特：“关于新通用顶级域名，我们讨论的是掀开22个通用顶级域名上限的盖子，目的是扩展通用顶级域名上限。我们不再需要保持这22个的上限，它可以是任何字码组合，可以是非拉丁字符。如果你刚好使用的是采用斯拉夫字母的俄罗斯语，或者阿拉伯语，或者中文，这点就非常重要。”
ICANN officials met last month in Dakar, Senegal. Brad White says they discussed the new program for what are known as gTLDs.
ICANN官员上月在塞内加尔达喀尔举行会谈。怀特说，他们讨论了通用顶级域名的新方案。
BRAD WHITE: "This marks one of the biggest changes in the Internet's domain name system, the addressing system of the Internet, that has ever occurred. We want to make sure that the process of getting these gTLDs into the Internet's root is methodical, careful and thoughtful."
怀特：“这标志着互联网域名系统，互联网寻址系统有史以来最大的变化之一。我们要确保这些通用顶级域名进入互联网根系统的过程有条不紊、细心和周到。
Anyone can apply, including businesses, governments and individuals. The cost of a new name: one hundred eighty-five thousand dollars.
包括企业、政府、个人在内的任何人都可以申请通用顶级域名。新通用顶级域名的申请费用为18.5万美元。
BRAD WHITE: "That's the cost that we've determined that is necessary to make sure that the applicant has the technical savvy to run an Internet registry, that there is no intellectual property or trademark problems, so on and so forth. But that hundred and eighty-five thousand is miniscule compared to the cost of actually operating an Internet registry."
怀特：“这是我们认为要确保申请人有技术能力运营一项互联网注册业务，没有知识产权或商标纠纷等等所必须的成本。但18.5万美元与实际经营一项互联网注册业务的成本来说是微不足道的。”
In Dakar, ICANN passed a resolution to consider creating a support system to help rising economies with limited financial resources. For example, ICANN says Africa represented less than twelve percent of Internet growth worldwide in the last ten years. Mister White says that is slowly beginning to change.
ICANN在达喀尔通过了一项决议，即考虑建立一个支持系统来帮助财政资源有限的新兴经济体。例如，ICANN称，在过去十年，非洲在全球互联网增长中占到的比例小于12%。怀特先生表示，这正在慢慢开始改变。
BRAD WHITE: "It is a continent with many nations that are just now discovering the Internet, and what it brings to bear in terms of information flow. And we didn't want the advent of new gTLDS to in any way block that sort of entree into the Internet, and if anything to see how they might be used to facilitate those who are interested. It's another way to increase Internet penetration around the world."
怀特：“这片有着许多国家的大陆（指非洲）正在探索互联网以及它在信息流方面承载的内容。我们不希望新通用顶级域名的出现以任何方式阻碍到他们进入互联网的机会。如果有可能的话，看看它们如何被用来促进那些对此感兴趣的人。这是另一种提高全球互联网普及率的方式。”
ICANN will accept applications from January twelfth to April twelfth. Officials plan to publish a list of all of the proposed new names in May. Mr. White says the approval process that follows will take several months, and it could take up to a year for new names to become active.
ICANN将于明年1月12日到4月12日期间接受新通用顶级域名的申请。有关官员计划在明年5月份公布所有提出申请的新通用顶级域名的名单。怀特先生表示，随后的审批过程将需要数月时间，同时新通用顶级域名的激活可能需要长达一年时间。
ICANN says it will approve no more than one thousand new generic top-level domains each year.
ICANN表示每年审批的新通用顶级域名将不超过1千个。
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