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大学时曾是棒球运动员的皮特·弗雷迪斯(Pete Frates)再也没办法讲话了。但在过去的两周半时间里，29岁的他上传到Facebook上的一段视频，促使比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)、勒布朗·詹姆斯(LeBron James)、克里斯·克里斯蒂(Chris Christie)和泰勒·斯威夫特(Taylor Swift)等人将一桶加了冰的水从头顶浇下，并且发声支持他的目标。
The "Ice Bucket Challenge" has lit social media on fire, raising both money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. About 30,000 Americans now have the disease, which attacks nerve cells and ultimately leads to total paralysis, though the mind remains sharp. Life expectancy is typically two to five years from the time of diagnosis.
“冰桶挑战”这项活动在社交媒体上火了起来，既为肌萎缩性脊髓侧索硬化症（amyotrophic lateral sclerosis，简称ALS）的研究筹集到了资金，又增强了人们对这种病的认识。这种疾病通常被称作葛雷克氏症(Lou Gehrig's disease)。目前，美国大约有3万人患有ALS，这种病会攻击神经细胞，最终会导致患者彻底瘫痪，但患者的思维仍会保持敏捷。确诊后，患者的寿命通常只有两到五年。（患者俗称“渐冻人”。——译注）
The stunt goes like this: People make a video of themselves dumping a bucket of ice water on their heads, post it on Facebook, Instagram or other social media sites, and then challenge friends to do the same within 24 hours or donate $100 to ALS. (Many do both.)
这项活动是这样的：人们将自己把一桶冰水从头顶浇下的过程拍摄成视频，并上传到Facebook、Instagram或其他社交媒体网站上，然后向朋友发起挑战，让对方在24小时之内做同样的事情，否则就捐100美元（约合620元人民币）用于ALS研究。（很多人既接受挑战，也捐了款。）
从6月1日到8月13日，人们在Facebook上分享了120万个视频。同时，自7月29日以来，这现象在Twitter上被提到了超过220万次。上述数据分别来自这两家网站。ALS协会(ALS Association)收到的捐款也大幅增加。该协会表示，从7月29日到周日，收到了1330万美元捐款，而去年同期，该协会收到的捐款仅有170万美元。ALS协会称大约有26万名捐赠者是新增的。（鉴于过去几天里，大量名人和企业高管也参与进来并承诺捐款，这一数字预计会上升。）
The Ice Bucket Challenge had been making the rounds on the Internet for several weeks before it was tied to ALS. Matt Lauer, the host of NBC's Today Show, had water poured over his head on July 15 after being challenged by the golfer Greg Norman.
在和ALS联系在一起之前，冰桶挑战活动就已经在互联网上流传了数周。7月15日，在被高尔夫球手格雷格·诺曼(Greg Norman)点名后，NBC节目《今日秀》(Today Show)的主持人马特·劳尔(Matt Lauer)让人将冰水从他头顶泼下。
Mr. Lauer said that he would donate money to the Hospice of Palm Beach County. He challenged Brian Williams, Martha Stewart and Howard Stern.
劳尔表示，将捐款给棕榈滩县安养院(Hospice of Palm Beach County)。他向布莱恩·威廉姆斯(Brian Williams)、玛莎·斯图尔特(Martha Stewart)和霍华德·斯特恩(Howard Stern)发出了挑战。
In late July, Mr. Frates learned about the challenge from his friend Pat Quinn, a New Yorker who also has ALS, and wanted to turn the trend into a fund-raiser for the disease.
7月底，弗雷迪斯从纽约的朋友帕特·奎因(Pat Quinn)那里了解到了这项挑战活动。奎因也是一名ALS患者。弗雷迪斯想把这个潮流转变成一项针对ALS的募捐。
Mr. Frates nominated himself for the challenge. Instead of having ice water poured on his head — "ice water and ALS are a bad mix," he said on his Facebook page — he posted a video of himself bouncing his head to "Ice Ice Baby," the 1989 hit song by the rapper Vanilla Ice. He challenged some friends, and the stunt spread quickly through Boston circles, then across the web until last week when a parade of boldfaced names joined in. (Last week, Mr. Frates again took the challenge, this time having ice dumped on his head at Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park.)
弗雷迪斯点名让自己接受该挑战。在弗雷迪斯上传的视频中，他没有让冰水从头顶淋下——他在Facebook上写道，原因是“ALS患者遇到冰水会有不好的后果”——而是跟着说唱歌手瓦尼拉·艾斯(Vanilla Ice)于1989年推出的热门歌曲《冰酷宝贝》(Ice Ice Baby)的节奏点头。他向一些朋友发出了挑战，这种做法很快便在波士顿多个圈子传开，后来又在网上迅速流传。一众名人上周也加入了进来。（上周，弗雷迪斯再度接受挑战。这一次，在波士顿红袜队[Boston Red Sox]的芬威球场[Fenway Park]里，他让人将冰水从自己的头顶浇下。）
"Did we ever imagine the level of awareness or the money that is coming in? In our dreams we did," said Mr. Frates's mother, Nancy Frates.
“我们以前想象过，人们对这种病的了解，会达到现在的程度吗？想过会有源源不断的捐款吗？想过，但是在梦里，”弗雷迪斯的母亲南茜·弗雷迪斯(Nancy Frates)说。
There has been a backlash. Some have criticized the campaign for so-called slacktivism, where people will click and post online for social causes with little actual impact on the cause. "There are a lot of things wrong with the Ice Bucket Challenge, but the most annoying is that it's basically narcissism masked as altruism," said Arielle Pardes, a writer for Vice. On Slate, Will Oremus urged people to take the "no ice bucket challenge" and just donate the money.
这场风潮也受到了非议。一些人批评，这场风潮只是“懒人公益行动”(slacktivism)，人们只是为一项目标在网上点点按钮、发发帖子，但对这项事业本身并没有多少实际帮助。Vice的作者爱丽尔·帕尔戴斯(Arielle Pardes)说道，“冰桶挑战里有很多不妥当的地方，但是最令人反感的一点是，它基本上是把自恋包装成了利他行为。”在Slate网站上，威尔·奥尔穆斯(Will Oremus)敦促人们参加“不玩冰桶”的挑战，直接捐钱。
Ms. Frates said that her son, the former captain of the Boston College baseball team, had been "living the life" when he called a family meeting in 2012. He revealed his illness and said that he did not want to whine, but would instead use the diagnosis as an opportunity to positively affect other people's lives.
南茜·弗雷迪斯说，她曾在波士顿学院(Boston College)棒球队当过队长的儿子，此前一直“过着充实的生活”，直到他在2012年召集了一次家庭会议。他袒露了自己的病情，但说自己不想抱怨，而是会把自己的诊断当做一个机会，努力为别人的生活带来积极的影响。
The disease has progressed quickly in the past six months. Mr. Frates has lost the ability to move his arms and legs and now communicates through eye-gaze technology, his mother said. He was married last year to Julie Frates, whom he met eight months before he learned that he had ALS. They are expecting a baby in September.
过去六个月里，病情发展很快。弗雷迪斯的母亲说，弗雷迪斯已经无法移动胳膊和腿，现在只能通过跟踪眼球运动的技术与人沟通。去年，弗雷迪斯与朱莉·弗雷迪斯(Julie Frates)结婚，两人是在他得知自己患有ALS的八个月前相识的。他们的孩子将于今年9月降生。
In a video last December, Mr. Frates said: "The story right now goes: You've got ALS, have it for a little while, a long while, but either way, the end is always the same. ALS always wins. So in order to rewrite the end of it, we need to raise awareness, money."
在去年12月的一段视频中，弗雷迪斯说：“现在的故事都是这样的：得了ALS，无论患病的时间是长是短，最后的结局都是一样的。ALS总会打败你。所以，为了改写故事的结局，我们需要提升公众的关注，也需要筹钱。”
