TEST FOR ENGLISH MAJORS (2016)
GRADE EIGHT
TIME LIMIT: 150 MIN
PART I LISTENING COMPREHENSION [25 MIN]
SECTION A MINI-LECTURE
In this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the mini-lecture, please complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.
Now listen to the mini-lecture. When it is over, you will be given THREE minutes to check your work.
Models for Arguments
Three models for arguments
·the first model for arguing is called (1) ________;
– arguments are treated as war
– there is much winning and losing
– it is a (2) ________ model for arguing
·the second model for arguing is arguments as proofs:
– (3) warranted ________
– valid inferences and conclusions
– no (4) _________ in the adversarial sense
·the third model for arguing is (5) __________:
– the audience is (6) ________ in the argument
– arguments must (7) _________ the audience
Traits of the argument as war
·very dominant: it can shape (8) ________
·strong arguments are needed
·negative effects include:
– (9) _______ are emphasized
– winning is the only purpose
– this type of arguments prevent (10) ________
– the worst thing is (11) ________
·implication from arguments as war: (12) _________
– e.g., one providing reasons and the other raising (13) ________
– the other one is finally persuaded
Suggestions on new ways to (14) _________ of arguments
·think of new kinds of arguments
·change roles in arguments
·(15) ________
SECTION B INTERVIEW
In this section you will hear ONE interview. The interview will be divided into TWO parts. At the end of each part, five questions will be asked about what was said. Both the interview and the questions will be spoken ONCE ONLY. After each question there will be a ten-second pause. During the pause, you should read the four choices of A, B, C and D, and mark the best answer to each question on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
You have THIRTY seconds to preview the questions.
Now, listen to the Part One of the interview. Questions 1 to 5 are based on Part One of the interview.
1.
A. Maggie’s university life.
B. Her mom’s life at Harvard.
C. Maggie’s view on studying with Mom.
D. Maggie’s opinion on her mom’s major.
2.
A. They take exams in the same weeks.
B. They have similar lecture notes.
C. They apply for the same internship.
D. They follow the same fashion.
3.
A. Having roommates.
B. Practicing court trails.
C. Studying together.
D. Taking notes by hand.
4.
A. Protection.
B. Imagination.
C. Excitement.
D. Encouragement.
5.
A. Thinking of ways to comfort Mom.
B. Occasional interference from Mom.
C. Ultimately calls when Maggie is busy.
D. Frequent check on Maggie’s grades.
Now, listen to the Part Two of the interview. Questions 6 to 10 are based on Part Two of the interview.
6.
A. Because parents need to be ready for new jobs.
B. Because parents love to return to college.
C. Because kids require their parents to do so.
D. Because kids find it hard to adapt to college life.
7.
A. Real estate agent.
B. Financier.
C. Lawyer.
D. Teacher.
8.
A. Delighted.
B. Excited.
C. Bored.
D. Frustrated.
9.
A. How to make a cake.
B. How to make omelets.
C. To accept what is taught.
D. To plan a future career.
10.
A. Unsuccessful.
B. Gradual.
C. Frustrating.
D. Passionate.
PART II READING COMPREHENSION [45 MIN]
SECTION A MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
In this section there are three passages followed by fourteen multiple choice questions. For each multiple choice question, there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
PASSAGE ONE
(1) There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft or taking the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motor-boats slit the waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes (滑水板) over cataracts of foam. On weekends Mr. Gatsby’s Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with scrubbing-brushes and hammer and garden-shears, repairing the ravages of the night before.
(2) Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York – every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour, if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb.
(3) At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several hundred feet of canvas and enough colored lights to make a Christmas tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre (冷盘), spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins and liquors and with cordials (加香甜酒) so long forgotten that most of his female guests were too young to know one from another.
(4) By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived – no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums. The last swimmers have come in from the beach now and are dressing upstairs; the cars from New York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and verandas are gaudy with primary colors and hair shorn in strange new ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot and enthusiastic meetings between women who never knew each other’s names.
(5) The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier, minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word.
(6) The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath – already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the center of a group and then excited with triumph glide on through the sea-change of faces and voices and color under the constantly changing light.
(7) Suddenly one of these gypsies in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out of the air, dumps it down for courage and moving her hands like Frisco dances out alone on the canvas platform. A momentary hush; the orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her and there is a burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray’s understudy from the Folies. The party has begun.
(8) I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited – they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island and somehow they ended up at Gatsby’s door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with amusement parks. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own ticket of admission.
(9) I had been actually invited. A chauffeur in a uniform crossed my lawn early that Saturday morning with a surprisingly formal note from his employer – the honor would be entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I would attend his “little party” that night. He had seen me several times and had intended to call on me long before but a peculiar combination of circumstances had prevented it – signed Jay Gatsby in a majestic hand.
(10) Dressed up in white flannels I went over to his lawn a little after seven and wandered around rather ill-at-ease among swirls and eddies of people I didn’t know – though here and there was a face I had noticed on the commuting train. I was immediately struck by the number of young Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry and all talking in low earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans. I was sure that they were selling something: bonds or insurance or automobiles. They were, at least, agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.
(11) As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host but the two or three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an amazed way and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements that I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table – the only place in the garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and alone.
11. It can be inferred form Para. 1 that Mr. Gatsby ______ through the summer.
A. entertained guests from everywhere every weekend
B. invited his guests to ride in his Rolls-Royce at weekends
C. liked to show off by letting guests ride in his vehicles
D. indulged himself in parties with people from everywhere
12. In Para. 4, the word “permeate” probably means ______.
A. perish
B. push
C. penetrate
D. perpetrate
13. It can be inferred form Para. 8 that ______.
A. guests need to know Gatsby in order to attend his parties
B. people somehow ended up in Gatsby’s house as guests
C. Gatsby usually held garden parties for invited guests
D. guests behaved themselves in a rather formal manner
14. According to Para. 10, the author felt ______ at Gatsby’s party.
A. dizzy
B. dreadful
C. furious
D. awkward
15. What can be concluded from Para. 11 about Gatsby?
A. He was not expected to be present at the parties.
B. He was busy receiving and entertaining guests.
C. He was usually out of the house at the weekend.
D. He was unwilling to meet some of the guests.
PASSAGE TWO
(1) The Term “CYBERSPACE” was coined by William Gibson, a science-fiction writer. He first used it in a short story in 1982, and expanded on it a couple of years later in a novel, “Neuromancer”, whose main character, Henry Dorsett Case, is a troubled computer hacker and drug addict. In the book Mr Gibson describes cyberspace as “a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators” and “a graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system.”
(2) His literary creation turned out to be remarkably prescient (有先见之明的). Cyberspace has become shorthand for the computing devices, networks, fibre-optic cables, wireless links and other infrastructure that bring the internet to billions of people around the world. The myriad connections forged by these technologies have brought tremendous benefits to everyone who uses the web to tap into humanity’s collective store of knowledge every day.
(3) But there is a darker side to this extraordinary invention. Data breaches are becoming ever bigger and more common. Last year over 800m records were lost, mainly through such attacks. Among the most prominent recent victims has been Target, whose chief executive, Gregg Steinhafel, stood down from his job in May, a few months after the giant American retailer revealed that online intruders had stolen millions of digital records about its customers, including credit- and debit-card details. Other well-known firms such as Adobe, a tech company, and eBay, an online marketplace, have also been hit.
(4) The potential damage, though, extends well beyond such commercial incursions. Wider concerns have been raised by the revelations about the mass surveillance carried out by Western intelligence agencies made by Edward Snowden, a contractor to America’s National Security Agency (NSA), as well as by the growing numbers of cyber-warriors being recruited by countries that see cyberspace as a new domain of warfare. America’s president, Barack Obama, said in a White House press release earlier this year that cyber-threats “pose one of the gravest national-security dangers” the country is facing.
(5) Securing cyberspace is hard because the architecture of the internet was designed to promote connectivity, not security. Its founders focused on getting it to work and did not worry much about threats because the network was affiliated with America’s military. As hackers turned up, layers of security, from antivirus programs to firewalls, were added to try to keep them at bay. Gartner, a research firm, reckons that last year organizations around the globe spent $67 billion on information security.
(6) On the whole, these defenses have worked reasonably well. For all the talk about the risk of a “cyber 9/11”, the internet has proved remarkably resilient. Hundreds of millions of people turn on their computers every day and bank online, shop at virtual stores, swap gossip and photos with their friends on social networks and send all kinds of sensitive data over the web without ill effect. Companies and governments are shifting ever more services online.
(7) But the task is becoming harder. Cyber-security, which involves protecting both data and people, is facing multiple threats, notably cybercrime and online industrial espionage, both of which are growing rapidly. A recent estimate by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), puts the annual global cost of digital crime and intellectual-property theft at $445 billion – a sum roughly equivalent to the GDP of a smallish rich European country such as Austria.
(8) To add to the worries, there is also the risk of cyber-sabotage. Terrorists or agents of hostile powers could mount attacks on companies and systems that control vital parts of an economy, including power stations, electrical grids and communications networks. Such attacks are hard to pull off, but not impossible. One precedent is the destruction in 2010 of centrifuges (离心机) at a nuclear facility in Iran by a computer program known as Stuxnet.
(9) But such events are rare. The biggest day-to-day threats faced by companies and government agencies come from crooks and spooks hoping to steal financial data and trade secrets. For example, smarter, better-organized hackers are making life tougher for the cyber-defenders, but the report will argue that even so a number of things can be done to keep everyone safer than they are now.
(10) One is to ensure that organizations get the basics of cyber-security right. All too often breaches are caused by simple blunders, such as failing to separate systems containing sensitive data from those that do not need access to them. Companies also need to get better at anticipating where attacks may be coming from and at adapting their defences swiftly in response to new threats. Technology can help, as can industry initiatives that allow firms to share intelligence about risks with each other.
(11) There is also a need to provide incentives to improve cyber-security, be they carrots or sticks. One idea is to encourage internet-service providers, or the companies that manage internet connections, to shoulder more responsibility for identifying and helping to clean up computers infected with malicious software. Another is to find ways to ensure that software developers produce code with fewer flaws in it so that hackers have fewer security holes to exploit.
(12) An additional reason for getting tech companies to give a higher priority to security is that cyberspace is about to undergo another massive change. Over the next few years billions of new devices, from cars to household appliances and medical equipment, will be fitted with tiny computers that connect them to the web and make them more useful. Dubbed “the internet of things”, this is already making it possible, for example, to control home appliances using smartphone apps and to monitor medical devices remotely.
(13) But unless these systems have adequate security protection, the internet of things could easily become the internet of new things to be hacked. Plenty of people are eager to take advantage of any weaknesses they may spot. Hacking used to be about geeky college kids tapping away in their bedrooms to annoy their elders. It has grown up with a vengeance.
16. Cyberspace is described by William Gibson as ______.
A. a function only legitimate computer operators have
B. a representation of data from the human system
C. an important element stored in the human system
D. an illusion held by the common computer users
17. Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the meaning of the first four paragraphs?
A. Cyberspace has more benefits than defects.
B. Cyberspace is like a double-edged sword.
C. Cyberspace symbolizes technological advance.
D. Cyberspace still remains a sci-fi notion.
18.According to Para. 5, the designing principles of the internet and cyberspace security are ______.
A. controversial
B. complimentary
C. contradictory
D. congruent
19. What could be the most appropriate title for the passage?
A. Cyber Crime and Its Prevention.
B. The Origin of Cyber Crime.
C. How to Deal with Cyber Crime.
D. The Definition of Cyber Crime.
PASSAGE THREE
(1) You should treat skeptically the loud cries now coming from colleges and universities that the last bastion of excellence in American education is being gutted by state budget cuts and mounting costs. Whatever else it is, higher education is not a bastion of excellence. It is shot through with waste, lax academic standards and mediocre teaching and scholarship.
(2) True, the economic pressures – from the Ivy League to state systems – are intense. Last year, nearly two-thirds of schools had to make midyear spending cuts to stay within their budgets. It is also true (as university presidents and deans argue) that relieving those pressures merely by raising tuitions and cutting courses will make matters worse. Students will pay more and get less. The university presidents and deans want to be spared from further government budget cuts. Their case is weak.
(3) Higher education is a bloated enterprise. Too many professors do too little teaching to too many ill-prepared students. Costs can be cut and quality improved without reducing the number of graduates. Many colleges and universities should shrink. Some should go out of business. Consider:
Except for elite schools, admissions standards are low. About 70 percent of freshmen at four-year colleges and universities attend their first-choice schools. Roughly 20 percent go to their second choices. Most schools have eagerly boosted enrollments to maximize revenues (tuition and state subsidies).
Dropout rates are high. Half or more of freshmen don’t get degrees. A recent study of PhD programs at 10 major universities also found high dropout rates for doctoral candidates.
The attrition among undergraduates is particularly surprising because college standards have apparently fallen. One study of seven top schools found widespread grade inflation. In 1963, half of the students in introductory philosophy courses got a B – or worse. By 1986, only 21 percent did. If elite schools have relaxed standards, the practice is almost surely widespread.
Faculty teaching loads have fallen steadily since the 1960s. In major universities, senior faculty members often do less than two hours a day of teaching. Professors are “socialized to publish, teach graduate students and spend as little time teaching (undergraduates) as possible,” concludes James Fairweather of Penn State University in a new study. Faculty pay consistently rises as undergraduate teaching loads drop.
Universities have encouraged an almost mindless explosion of graduate degrees. Since 1960, the number of masters’ degrees awarded annually has risen more than fourfold to 337,000. Between 1965 and 1989, the annual number of MBAs (masters in business administration) jumped from 7,600 to 73,100.
(4) Even so, our system has strengths. It boasts many top-notch schools and allows almost anyone to go to college. But mediocrity is pervasive. We push as many freshmen as possible through the door, regardless of qualifications. Because bachelors’ degrees are so common, we create more graduate degrees of dubious worth. Does anyone believe the MBA explosion has improved management?
(5) You won’t hear much about this from college deans or university presidents. They created this mess and are its biggest beneficiaries. Large enrollments support large faculties. More graduate students liberate tenured faculty from undergraduate teaching to concentrate on writing and research: the source of status. Richard Huber, a former college dean, writes knowingly in a new book (“How Professors Play the Cat Guarding the Cream: Why We’re Paying More and Getting Less in Higher Education”): Presidents, deans and trustees... call for more recognition of good teaching with prizes and salary incentives.
(6) The reality is closer to the experience of Harvard University’s distinguished paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould: “To be perfectly honest, though lip service is given to teaching, I have never seriously heard teaching considered in any meeting for promotion... Writing is the currency of prestige and promotion.”
(7) About four-fifths of all students attend state-subsidized systems, from community colleges to prestige universities. How governors and state legislatures deal with their budget pressures will be decisive. Private schools will, for better or worse, be influenced by state actions. The states need to do three things.
(8) First, create genuine entrance requirements. Today’s low standards tell high school students: You don’t have to work hard to go to college. States should change the message by raising tuitions sharply and coupling the increase with generous scholarships based on merit and income. To get scholarships, students would have to pass meaningful entrance exams. Ideally, the scholarships should be available for use at in-state private schools. All schools would then compete for students on the basis of academic quality and costs. Today’s system of general tuition subsidies provides aid to well-to-do families that don’t need it or to unqualified students who don’t deserve it.
(8) Next, states should raise faculty teaching loads, mainly at four-year schools. (Teaching loads at community colleges are already high.) This would cut costs and reemphasize the primacy of teaching at most schools. What we need are teachers who know their fields and can communicate enthusiasm to students. Not all professors can be path-breaking scholars. The excessive emphasis on scholarship generates many unread books and mediocre articles in academic journals. “You can’t do more of one (research) without less of the other (teaching),” says Fairweather. “People are working hard – it’s just where they’re working.”
(10) Finally, states should reduce or eliminate the least useful graduate programs. Journalism (now dubbed “communications”) business and education are prime candidates. A lot of what they teach can – and should – be learned on the job. If colleges and universities did a better job of teaching undergraduates, there would be less need for graduate degrees.
(11) Our colleges and universities need to provide a better education to deserving students. This may mean smaller enrollments, but given today’s attrition rates, the number of graduates need not drop. Higher education could become a bastion of excellence, if we would only try.
20. It can be concluded from Para. 3 that the author was ______ towards the education.
A. indifferent
B. neutral
C. positive
D. negative
21. The following are current problems facing all American universities EXCEPT ______.
A. high dropout rates
B. low admission standards
C. low undergraduate teaching loads
D. explosion of graduate degrees
22. In order to ensure teaching quality, the author suggests that the states do all the following EXCEPT ______.
A. set entrance requirements
B. raise faculty teaching loads
C. increase undergraduate programs
D. reduce useless graduate programs
23. “Prime candidates” in Para. 10 is used as ________.
A. euphemism
B. metaphor
C. analogy
D. personification
24. What is the author’s main argument in the passage?
A. American education can remain excellent by ensuring state budget.
B. Professors should teach more undergraduates than postgraduates.
C. Academic standard are the main means to ensure educational quality.
D. American education can remain excellent only by raising teaching quality.
SECTION B SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
In this section there are eight short answer questions based on the passages in Section A. Answer each question in NO more than 10 words in the space provided on ANSWER SHEET TWO.
PASSAGE ONE
25. From the description of the party preparation, what words can you see to depict Gatby’s party?
26. How do you summarize the party scene in Para. 6?
PASSAGE TWO
27. What do the cases of Target, Adobe and eBay in Para. 3 show?
28. Why does the author say the task is becoming harder in Para. 7?
29. What is the conclusion of the whole passage?
PASSAGE THREE
30. What does the author mean by saying “Their case is weak” in Para. 2?
31. What does “grade inflation” in Para. 3 mean?
32. What does the author mean when he quotes Richard Huber in Para. 5?
PART III LANGUAG USAGE [15 MIN]
The passage contains TEN errors. Each indicated line contains a maximum of ONE error. In each case, only ONE word is involved. You should proof-read the passage and correct it in the following way: For a wrong word, underline the wrong word and write the correct one in the blank provided at the end of the line. For a missing word, mark the position of the missing word with a “∧” sign and write the word you believe to be missing in the blank provided at the end of the line. For an unnecessary word, cross the unnecessary word with a slash “/” and put the word in the blank provided at the end of the line.
Example
When∧art museum wants a new exhibit, (1) an
it never buys things in finished form and hangs (2) never
them on the wall. When a natural history museum
wants an exhibition, it must often build it. (3) exhibit
Proofread the given passage on ANSWER SHEET THREE as instructed.
All social units develop a culture. Even in two-person relationships,
a culture develops in time. In friendship and romantic relationships, for (1) ________
example, partners develop their own history, shared experiences,
language patterns, habits and customs give that relationship a special (2) ________
character – a character that differs it in various ways from other (3) ________
relationships. Examples might include special dates, places, songs or
events that come to have a unique and important symbolic meaning for
the two individuals. Thus, any social unit – whether a relationship, (4) ________
group, organization, or society – develops a culture with the passage of
time. While the defining characteristics of each culture are unique, all
cultures share certain same functions. The relationship between (3) ________
communication and culture is a very complex intimate one. Cultures are (6) ________
created through communication; that is, communication is the means of
human interaction, through it cultural characteristics are created and (7) ________
shared. It is not so much that individuals set out to create a culture when
they interact in relationships, groups, organizations, or societies, but
rather than that cultures are a natural by-product of social interaction. In (8) ________
a sense, cultures are the “residue” of social communication. Without
communication and communication media, ii would be impossible to
have and pass alone cultural characteristics from one place and time to (9) ________
another. One can say, furthermore. that culture is created, shaped, (10) ________
transmitted, and learned through communication.
PART IV TRANSLATION [20 MIN]
Translate the underlined part of the following text from Chinese into English. Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET THREE.
流逝，表现了南国人对时间最早的感觉。“子在川上曰：逝者如斯夫。”他们发现无论是潺潺小溪，还是浩荡大河，都一去不复返，流逝之际青年变成了老翁而绿草转眼就枯黄，很自然有错阴的紧迫感。流逝也许是缓慢的，但无论如何缓慢，对流逝的恐惧使人们必须用“流逝”这个词来时时警戒后人，必须急匆匆地行动，给这个词灌注一种紧张感。
PART V WRITING [45 MIN]
The following two excerpts are about Ice Bucket Challenge, an activity initiated to raise money and awareness for the disease ALS (渐冻症). From the excerpts, you can find that the activity seems to have achieved much success, but there have also been doubt and criticism.
Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: summarize the development of ice bucket challenge activity, and then express your opinion towards the activity, especially whether the problem found with this kind of activity will finally undermine its original purpose.
Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality.
Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
Write your article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.
Excerpt 1:
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Takes U.S. by Storm
In the last two weeks, the Ice Bucket Challenge has quite literally “soaked” the nation. Everyone from Ethel Kennedy to Justin Timberlake has poured a bucket of ice water over his or her head and challenged others do the same or make a donation to fight ALS within twenty-four hours.
Between July 29 and today, August 12, The ALS Association and its 38 chapters have received an astonishing $4 million in donations compared with $1.12 million during the same time period last year. The ALS Association is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from those people who have been doused, made a donation, or both.
“We have never seen anything like this in the history of the disease,” said Barbara Newhouse, President and CEO of The ALS Association.
With only about half of the general public knowledgeable about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the Ice Bucket Challenge is making a profound difference. Since July 29, The Association has welcomed more than 70,000 new donors to the cause.
“While the monetary donations are absolutely incredible,” said Newhouse, “the visibility that this disease is getting as a result of the challenge is truly invaluable. People who have never before heard of ALS are now engaged in the fight to find treatments and a cure for ALS.”
Excerpt 2:
Ice bucket challenge: who’s pouring cold water on the idea?
The ice bucket challenge has certainly raised awareness. Whether that’s primarily of the disease for which it is raising funds or the speed at which images of swimsuit-clad celebrities will go viral is a long-term question. More pertinent right now is whether or not the craze has reached a tipping point.
As it lived by social media, so the ice bucket challenge could die by it. The state of California is currently experiencing one of the worst droughts on record. So gestures such as companies dousing their staff en masse in hundreds of gallons of icy water, come across more as wasteful PR exercises than charitable gestures – and are being called out as such on Twitter.
There has been a similar reaction in China. Last week, protesters in drought-stricken Henan province raised empty red buckets over their heads, accompanied by the slogan “Henan, please say no to the ice bucket challenge”.
China’s ministry for civil affairs, while broadly supportive, has warned citizens against the practice’s “entertainment and commercial tendencies”.
But the real dampener could be the risk of bodily harm. Doctors around the world have warned of risks to elderly people, expectant mothers and people with heart conditions.