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Day after day, Facebook captures the best and worst moments, from the birth of a new baby to heated political spats. So what was discussed most this year? One of the topics was the Ice Bucket Challenge, and also the death of Robin Williams.
The list Facebook has released is a testament to its global reach, given that more than 80 percent of its users live outside the U.S. and Canada. Worldwide topics, such as the World Cup football tournament and the Ebola outbreak, occupied the top two spots.
But a number 3 was the presidential election in Brazil. Facebook says some 48 million people had 670 million interactions, comments and likes, about the highly contested event. This made it the most talked-about election of this year, even more than the congressional midterms in the U.S.
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said in an interview that at its best, social media makes the world a smaller place and builds community on a global level.
Sandberg saw it fitting that the World Cup, the world's most widely watched sporting event, was also the most widely discussed event this year. More than 350 million people had 3 billion interactions about the tournament.
From June 1 to Sept. 1, Facebook users shared more than 17 million videos related to the Ice Bucket Challenge, a campaign designed to raise awareness and money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined celebrities and everyday users alike to post videos of themselves being covered with iced water. All told, those videos were viewed 10 billion times by more than 440 million people. Former US President George W. Bush had the most widely watched video, with more than 39 million views.
For Sandberg, the Ice Bucket Challenge marked an important milestone for Facebook - the explosion of video content on the site.
spat n. 口角，吵架
The Ice Bucket Challenge 今年风靡一时的冰桶挑战赛，要求参与者在网络上发布自己被冰水浇遍全身的视频内容，然后该参与者便可以要求其他人来参与这一活动。活动规定，被邀请者要么在24小时内接受挑战，要么就选择为对抗“肌肉萎缩性侧索硬化症”捐出100美元。
Robin Williams 罗宾威廉姆斯，美国著名影星、谐星，因出演《死亡诗社》、《勇敢者游戏》、《心灵捕手》等电影而为中国观众熟悉。今年8月在美国家中自杀身亡。
testament n. 最常见的意思是“遗嘱”，此处表示“证明”，后接to… （对…的证明）。
例句：
This is my uncle’s last will and testament. （这是我叔叔的遗愿和遗嘱。）
Her success is a testament to the fact that talent trumps appearance. （她的成功足以证明，才能比外貌更重要。）
given that… 考虑到… 后面接从句。
例句：
Given that they only had three hours to remember the complicated choreography, they did an amazing job. （考虑到他们需要在三个小时里记住如此复杂的编舞，他们的表现已经很棒了。）
the Ebola outbreak 埃博拉疫情大爆发
contested adj. 有争议的，有异议的 该词和controversial类似，更常用于形容可以提出异议进而改变结果的事件，如选举。
congressional midterms 美国国会中期选举（等于congressional midterm elections） 根据美国宪法，美国总统选举每四年举行一次，国会选举每两年举行一次。其中一次国会选举与总统选举同时举行，而另一次则在两届总统选举之间举行。后者就是“中期选举”。
chief operating officer 即COO，首席运营官。是公司团体里负责监督管理每日活动的高阶官员。COO是企业组织中最高层的成员之一，监测每日的公司运作，并直接报告给CEO（首席执行官）。Facebook的CEO是Mark Zuckerberg，COO是Sheryl Sandberg。
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