李彥宏參加“冰桶挑戰”

The big freeze

If you logged on to weibo over the weekend, chances are yournewsfeed was flooded with videos of US celebrities drenchingthemselves in ice water. It seems everyone is getting in on thefun, from popular singers like Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake,to high-ranking of tech executives including Bill Gates and MarkZuckerberg.

如果你周末上了微博，你也許已經被美國名人們“冰水澆頭”的新聞刷頻了。社會各界的名人似乎都參與其中，既有流行歌手泰勒？斯威夫特和賈斯汀？汀布萊克，也有科技界大佬比爾？蓋茨和馬克？扎克伯格。

Is it some kind of new, cool way to cope with the summer heat? Of course not.

這難道是應對酷暑的炫酷新方法？當然不是。

It's a fundraising game called the Ice Bucket Challenge, and it aims to raise awareness foramyotrophic lateral sclerosis （ALS）。

這個名為“冰桶挑戰”的游戲其實是一個的籌款項目，為對抗肌萎縮性脊髓側索硬化癥（ALS）籌款，并引起更多人對該疾病的關注。

The challenge's premise is straightforward. It involves daring a person to dump a bucket of icewater over their head within 24 hours, or donate money toward fighting ALS. Even if a personcompletes the challenge, they're more than welcome to donate money anyhow.

挑戰的內容十分簡單：接受挑戰的人需要在24小時內將一桶冰水從頭澆下，否則就要為對抗ALS捐款。人們即使完成了挑戰，當然也可以進行捐款。

Once a person completes the challenge, they're supposed to issue the same challenge to severalother people, usually three, which is why the challenge has been growing and growing.

完成挑戰的人還可以再點三個人進行挑戰。而這正是越來越多的人參與進來的原因。

Buckets of money

卓有成效

Since the beginning of June, the game has spread across social media timelines and late-night talkshows in the US. According to Facebook, more than 15 million people so far have posted,commented, or liked a post about the challenge. It has raised more than $2.3 million （14 millionyuan） to support research for the illness.

“冰桶挑戰”自今年6月，開始在美國社交媒體和夜間脫口秀節目中興起。在Facebook上，發布挑戰視頻、評論或點贊的人數已超過1500萬人。籌得研究資金230多萬美元（約合1400萬人民幣）。

As for the origins of the craze, new data from the Facebook data science team heavily supportsone theory: that the ice bucket challenge originated with Pete Frates, a former captain of theBoston College baseball team. Frates, 29, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012, can no longerspeak and uses a wheelchair. After Frates posted his own ice bucket challenge video on July 31,the game took off and has now become one of the biggest stunts in the online community.

至于這項狂熱活動的起源，Facebook數據科學團隊的新數據認為：波士頓大學棒球隊前隊長皮特？弗雷茨是第一個“澆冰水的人”。今年29歲的弗雷茨在2012年檢查出患有漸凍人癥，現在的他已經無法說話，行動只能依靠輪椅。今年7月31日，弗雷茨在網上發布了自己“冰桶挑戰”的視頻，隨后該挑戰就一發不可收拾，現在已經是網上最引人注目的活動。

Seeing celebrities take on the ice bucket challenge is entertaining, but it's even better watchingthem do it with a twist. Here are three celebrities who got creative.

Yet it's hard to shake the feeling that, for most of the people posting ice bucket videos of themselves on Facebook, Vine, and Instagram, the charity part remains a postscript. Remember, the way the challenge is set up, the ice-drenching is the alternative to contributing actual money. Some of the people issuing the challenges have tweaked the rules by asking people to contribute $10 even if they do soak themselves. Even so, a lot of the participants are probably spending more money on bagged ice than on ALS research.

不過也有人認為，對于大多數在Facebook、Vine和Instagram上上傳冰桶挑戰視頻的人，慈善只是附帶的。還記得嗎，挑戰最初的規則是要么淋冰水，要么捐錢。一些參與挑戰的人后來更改了規則，要求參與者即使澆了冰水還要捐10美元出來。況且相比為ALS捐出的錢，很多參與者大概花在買冰上的錢更多。