去白宫面见美国总统和第一夫人通常是件正经严肃的事。但当NBA冠军勒布朗•詹姆斯和他的克利夫兰骑士队队友收到白宫邀请时，整件事便不同寻常了。
A video uploaded to social media shows the teammates in various poses in a room in the White House, while the camera pans across each seemingly-frozen player for what seems like an *eternity. The clip even shows James posing with Michelle Obama as if they were taking a *selfie together.
在社交媒体上的一段视频中，骑士队队员们在白宫的一个房间中摆出各种各样的姿势，而摄像机在看起来像被定住了的球员中间摇摄，画面看起来就像静止了一般。在视频片段中，詹姆斯和米歇尔•奥巴马甚至还一起摆了个看起来像在自拍的姿势。
To the *uninitiated eye it appears that time is standing still, or that the players are not even real. But those who use social media should recognize this setup as the latest craze that’s sweeping the web.
对于那些不明就里的人来说，这看起来就像是时间停止了，或者这些球员根本就不是真人。但玩社交媒体的人一定能认出这一席卷互联网的最新狂潮。
The Mannequin Challenge is the newest addition to a list that includes the Harlem Shake, the Ice Bucket Challenge and Planking. Celebrities like Adele and Britney Spears, as well as almost every professional sporting team, have all joined in the fun.
“假人挑战”是继“哈林摇”、“冰桶挑战”以及“趴街”之后的又一狂潮。阿黛尔、小甜甜布兰妮等名人以及几乎所有的职业运动队，都在玩。
And like most *viral trends, it was a bored US teenager who started it.
而和大多数热潮一样，“假人挑战”也是由一个无聊的美国青少年发起的。
“One day my friend walked to the front of the class and just stood there, so me and my friend joined her and started doing crazy poses,” 16-year-old Jasmine Cavins, a high school student from Florida, told the New York Post. “My friend was like: ‘We can make this a challenge’.”
“有一天，我的一位朋友走到了所有同学面前，定定地站在那里，后来我和其他朋友也加入了她，并摆起了各种疯狂的姿势，”来自佛罗里达州的16岁高中生贾思明•卡文斯在接受《纽约邮报》采访时表示。“我的朋友提议道：‘我们可以把它做成一项挑战’。”
After Cavin’s video was posted to Twitter, star power soon took over to bring the craze to its current level of fame. “I think I realized [it was popular] when Beyonce did one,” Cavins said.
在卡文斯将视频发布到推特后不久，明星的影响力便使它达到了现今的火爆程度。“碧昂斯参与了‘假人挑战’后，我想我才知道这个挑战有多受欢迎，”卡文斯说道。
Unlike the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was intended to raise money and awareness for motor neuron disease, the Mannequin Challenge is done purely in the name of fun.
和为了筹集资金、呼吁人们关注运动神经元症的冰桶挑战不同，假人挑战的出发点仅仅是为了好玩。
Yet where the similarity in the two viral sensations lies is the manner in which a group “challenges” another.
而这两大热潮的相同之处就在于，它们都是一队人对另一队人发起的挑战。
Kevin Allocca, YouTube’s head of culture and trends, said that sort of “one-upmanship” appeals to people – particularly teenagers and anyone looking to bolster their social media presence – but it’s the challenge’s simplicity that’s the biggest drawer.
YouTube文化与流行总监凯文•艾洛克称这样“高人一筹”的做法十分吸引人，尤其对于青少年和活跃于社交媒体的人来说——但简单易做才是这一挑战最大的吸引力。
“You can do it at your home, you can do it in a TV studio, but at the same time add your own kind of creative take to it,” he told the New York Post.
“你可以在家、在电视演播室里完成这一挑战，同时你还可以加入自己的创意，”他在接受《纽约邮报》采访时表示。
However, The Guardian’s Arwa Mahdawi believes timing is the reason for the Mannequin Challenge’s popularity.
然而，《卫报》 的Arwa Mahdawi却表示，时机才是“假人挑战”如此火爆的原因。
“The fact that being quiet and still has been so enthusiastically embraced by everyone from high schoolers to *imminent presidents is a sign, I feel, that we are all very, very tired and we would like a little rest, please,” Mahdawi wrote. “It’s worth remembering that there’s nothing wrong with doing nothing every now and then.”
“从高中生到总统候选人都对保持静止如此热衷，这是一个标志。我觉得我们实在太累了，想要休息一小会儿，”Mahdawi 写道。“偶尔放空自己、什么也不干，这并没有错。而这一点我们得好好记着。”
