IN THE 1940s Jorge Luis Borges, an Argen-tine writer, wrote a short story about mapping. It imagines an empire which surveys itself in such exhaustive detail that when unfolded, the perfectly complete in paper map covers the entire kingdom. Because it is unwieldy and thus largely useless, subsequent generations allow it to decay into tatters. Great scraps are left carpeting the deserts.
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机译：在1940年代，Argentine作家Jorge Luis Borges写了一篇有关制图的短篇小说。它想象着一个帝国，它对自己进行如此详尽的调查，以致于当它展开时，纸质地图的完美完成就覆盖了整个王国。由于它笨拙，因此在很大程度上是无用的，因此后代使其衰落成碎片。大量的碎屑留在了沙漠上。
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