2015考研英语阅读热点话题：冰桶挑战

　　在考研英语中，阅读分数可谓是占到了总分的半壁江山，正所谓“得阅读者得考研”。新东方在线小编提醒广大考生：在以做真题为题源的基础上，同学们一定要拓展视野，多关注英语热点话题。这样才能在整体上提升考研英语阅读水平!

　　The big freeze

　　“冰桶挑战”正流行

　　最近 “冰水浇头”大为流行，中外名人们纷纷因此“湿身”……这可不是应对酷暑新方法，而是为了对抗“渐冻症”的公益活动“冰桶挑战”，在筹款的同时让更多人了解这种疾病。一起去看各位名人都是怎么接招的~

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

　　如果你周末上了微博，你也许已经被美国名人们“冰水浇头”的新闻刷频了。社会各界的名人似乎都参与其中，既有流行歌手泰勒•斯威夫特和贾斯汀•汀布莱克，也有科技界大佬比尔•盖茨和马克•扎克伯格。‍

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

　　这难道是应对酷暑的炫酷新方法?当然不是。

　　It’s a fundraising game called the Ice Bucket Challenge, and it aims to raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

　　这个名为“冰桶挑战”的游戏其实是一个的筹款项目，为对抗肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症(ALS)筹款，并引起更多人对该疾病的关注。

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

　　挑战的内容十分简单：接受挑战的人需要在24小时内将一桶冰水从头浇下，否则就要为对抗ALS捐款。人们即使完成了挑战，当然也可以进行捐款。

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

　　完成挑战的人还可以再点三个人进行挑战。而这正是越来越多的人参与进来的原因。

　　Buckets of money

　　卓有成效

　　Since the beginning of June, the game has spread across social media timelines and late-night talk shows 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 million yuan) to support research for the illness.

　　“冰桶挑战”自今年6月，开始在美国社交媒体和夜间脱口秀节目中兴起。在Facebook上，发布挑战视频、评论或点赞的人数已超过1500万人。筹得研究资金230多万美元(约合1400万人民币)。

　　As for the origins of the craze, new data from the Facebook data science team heavily supports one theory: that the ice bucket challenge originated with Pete Frates, a former captain of the Boston College baseball team. Frates, 29, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2012, can no longer speak 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.

　　至于这项狂热活动的起源，Facebook数据科学团队的新数据认为：波士顿大学棒球队前队长皮特•弗雷茨是第一个“浇冰水的人”。今年29岁的弗雷茨在2012年检查出患有渐冻人症，现在的他已经无法说话，行动只能依靠轮椅。今年7月31日，弗雷茨在网上发布了自己“冰桶挑战”的视频，随后该挑战就一发不可收拾，现在已经是网上最引人注目的活动。

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

　　围观名人参与“冰桶挑战”本就有趣，如果挑战的过程还充满创意，那简直不能更好玩。就一起去看看下面这三位名人是怎么挑战得与众不同?

　　Jess Tyler Ferguson

　　杰西•泰勒•弗格森

　　The Modern Family star, who accepted the challenge from US actress Elizabeth Banks, made like he was going to dump the water on his head, but instead dropped his check book, saying “What do I write it out to?” He challenged everyone, including Oprah Winfrey, to join in.

　　《摩登家庭》男星杰西•泰勒•弗格森“接受”了美国女演员伊丽莎白•班克斯的挑战邀请。可是，就在他将冰水从头浇下时，从“冰桶”中掉出的却只有一本支票簿，然后他说：“我要写多少钱呢?”随后他挑战了所有人，就连奥普拉也包括在内。

　　Bill Gates

　　比尔•盖茨

　　“I’m always up for a challenge,” the founder of Microsoft said in his highly-produced challenge video while drawing sketches for an ice-bucket-dump lever. He accepted the challenge from the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and challenged Ryan Seacrest, Chris Anderson and Elon Musk.

　　在精心制作的挑战视频中，微软创始人比尔•盖茨一边为挂冰桶的杠杆绘制图纸，他还一边说到，“我总是做好准备接受挑战。”比尔•盖茨被Facebook的首席执行官马克•扎克伯格点名挑战，而他则将挑战传给了瑞安•西克莱斯特，克里斯•安德森和埃隆•马斯克。

　　Chris Pratt

　　克里斯•帕拉特

　　Why dump ice water when you can drink ice? The Guardians of the Galaxy star drank an appropriately-named alcoholic beverage before getting — surprise — ice water dumped “down his butt crack”, as he said. He accepted the challenge from Bob Iger, current CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and challenged three of his co-stars.

　　曾出演《银河护卫队》的克里斯•帕拉特想以喝下与名字里还有“ice”的酒精饮料蒙混过关，这怎么可能?只见正在喝饮料的他被突然从天而降的冰水浇得“整个屁股都湿了”。在接受了来自迪士尼首席执行官鲍勃•伊格尔的挑战之后，他又点名三位一起合作的明星进行挑战。

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