VOA慢速英语--Facebook Birthday Feature Lets Users Raise Money for Charities

 

For her 35th birthday, Behnoush Babzani decided¹ to hold a party.

She used her birthday to ask friends to donate money to a cause she cares about: helping² people who need bone marrow³ transplants⁵.

Babzani herself received bone marrow from her brother in a transplant⁴ operation.

“It’s not that my body was making cancerous cells. It was that my body was making no cells,” she said.

Turning to social media, Babzani published a picture of herself on Facebook’s website. The photograph showed her as a hospital patient. Using a new program on Facebook, she asked her friends to help raise $350.

New way to raise money for causes

It has always been easy for Facebook users to send birthday messages to friends online. Now people are using the social networking site to turn birthday messages into donations for a favorite cause, such as a charitable group.

A year ago, the American company launched a new feature that has helped charities in the United States and around the world. In its first year, Facebook’s birthday fundraiser feature raised more than $300 million for groups helping those in need. This success has caused some charities to rethink their methods for raising money.

However, the success of the Facebook birthday feature comes at a troubling time for the company. Social media users have begun to question how internet services connecting friends and family have also become tools for some to spread hate or influence foreign elections.

Recently, a U.S. Senate committee met with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, and Jack⁶ Dorsey, who heads Twitter.

Sandberg spoke⁷ about steps Facebook has taken to identify and remove messages that violate⁸ the company’s terms of service.

“We were too slow to spot this, and too slow to act. That is on us,” she told the lawmakers.

However, the birthday fundraiser feature shows the power of using social media for good, says Facebook spokeswoman Roya Winner.

“It gives people who are celebrating a birthday, a chance to turn that day into something that’s bigger than themselves,” she said.

Some of the charities receiving the largest donations are Saint⁹ Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Alzheimer’s Association and the American Cancer Society.

In the case of Behnoush Babzani, she raised more than $1,700 in donations to help pay for bone marrow transplants.

Rescuing sea lions

Two weeks before his 65th birthday, Stan Jensen received a message from Facebook asking if he wanted to use his birthday to ask people to donate to a cause.

Jensen, a retired¹⁰ sales worker, decided that he did. He turned to 1,400 Facebook friends to help raise money for the Marine¹¹ Mammal Center in Northern California, where he cares for injured sea lions. He works as a volunteer there once a week.

Jensen raised $2,300.

He said that much money was more than he could have dreamed for, and he let his friends know they made a difference.

“You’ve bought a ton of fish,” he told them. “You are feeding all the animals we have on site for several days.”

His birthday is coming up again, and the sea lions are always hungry. He’s perfecting his pitch: “I know I’m special to you, but I’d like just the cost of a Starbucks coffee. Just $5. Please.”

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

bone marrow - n. a soft substance that fills the bones of people and animals?

feature - n. an interesting or important part, quality, ability, etc.?

fund-raiser - n. a social event held to collect money for a political party, charity, school, etc.?

online - adj. done over the Internet?

sea lion - n. a large seal that lives near coasts in the Pacific Ocean?

site - n. the place where something (such as a building) is, was, or will be located?

spot - v. to see or notice (someone or something that is difficult to see or find)?

transplant - n. to remove (a plant) from the ground or from a pot and move it to another place

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

4 transplant   

n.移植的器官或植物；v.使迁移，使移居

参考例句：

• Some plants do not transplant well.有些植物不宜移植。
• Several of the patients had received kidney transplant.病人中有几位已接受了肾移植手术。

5 transplants   

n.（器官、皮肤、头发等的）移植( transplant的名词复数 )；移植的器官，移植物

参考例句：

• The heart transplants have been read about and discussed everywhere. 人们已读到关于心脏移植的报道，到处都在议论此事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A number of terms are used in various classifications of transplants. 移植物的各种分类中应用了一系列的名词。 来自辞典例句

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 violate   

vt.违反，违背，亵渎，侵犯，妨碍

参考例句：

• Those who violate traffic regulations should be punished.那些违反交通规定的人应该受处罚。
• Can they be allowed to violate rules and regulations at will?难道能容许他们随心所欲地破坏规章制度吗？

9 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

10 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

11 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。