Life in the Emerald City

That one was over Internet search advertising, a booming category in which both Microsoft and Yahoo were humble and distant also-rans behind Google.
在新興的網路搜尋廣告的戰爭中，微軟和雅虎是遠遠落後谷歌的競爭者。

這是從紐約時報抄下來的句子。裡面also-ran是ㄧ個名詞，意思是沒有勝算的參賽者，陪賽的就是了。

韋伯字典的解釋如下：
1 : a horse or dog that finishes out of the money in a race 
   比賽結果沒有贏得獎金的賽馬或賽狗
2 : a contestant that does not win 
   沒有贏的參賽者
3 : one that is of little importance especially competitively <was just an also–ran in the scramble for…privileges — C. A. Buss> 
  不重要也沒有競爭力的人