US President Barack Obama tops Forbes' most powerful list

The US president leads it, of course, and then there`s the Pope, and Angela Merkel, and Facebook`s founder, and other global rainmakers on Forbes` ranking of the world`s most powerful people.
在福布斯杂志评出的全球权势人物榜上，奥巴马毫无疑问地居于首位，入榜的还有教皇、德国总理安格拉•默克尔、社交网站Facebook的创立者扎克伯格和其他具有全球影响力的风云人物。
 

The ranking features 71 names, a figure Forbes said it set as a cutoff because there are an estimated 7.1 billion people in the world and thus the ranking works out to one very heavy hitter for every 100 million people.
入榜的共有71个人，福布斯称以71为界是因为全球估计有71亿人口，因此该排行榜是在每1亿人当中选出一个重量级人物。

For the second year in a row, US President Barack Obama led the ranking, with Forbes noting that he won the popular vote, an electoral college majority, and seven of the seven toss-up states in the November election.
美国总统奥巴马是连续第二年登顶这一排行榜，福布斯指出奥巴马在11月大选中赢得了普选，获得了选举团的多数票，还获得了全部七个关键“摇摆州”的支持。

Mr Obama faces challenges galore, such as a budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment, and renewed strife in the Middle East.
奥巴马面临着大量挑战，诸如预算危机、居高不下的失业率和中东地区的新冲突等。

"But Obama remains the commander in chief of the world`s greatest military and head of the sole economic and cultural superpower - literally the leader of the free world," Forbes said.
福布斯杂志称：“但是奥巴马依然是全球最强大军队的统帅，也是世界经济和文化超级大国的首脑——实际上也是自由世界的领导人。”

The silver medal of power went to Mrs Merkel, the German chancellor, whom Forbes described as the backbone of the 27-member European Union and the person who carries the fate of the euro on her shoulders.
权势榜第二名是德国总理默克尔，福布斯杂志将她称为欧盟27个成员国的主心骨、承载欧元命运的人。

Third place went to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was re-elected to a third term "after a few years swapping posts with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev," and "officially regains the power that no one believes he truly gave up."
位居第三的是俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔•普京。“在和总理德米特里•梅德韦杰夫互换几年职位后”普京第三次当选为总统，“正式重掌人人都认为他从未真正放弃过的权力”。

Forbes said it assembled the list using four criteria: power over lots of people, financial resources controlled, whether the person has power in various spheres of life, and whether that person actively uses their power.
福布斯称评出这一榜单是依据四个标准：对许多人能施加权力，控制经济资源，在生活的多个领域都拥有权力，积极运用手中的权力。

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg - 16 on the list - fit the bill nicely because he is a politician overseeing a huge and hugely important city, and is a billionaire, a media magnate and a major philanthropist.
排在第16位的纽约市长迈克尔•布隆伯格完美地符合这些标准，因为他作为一个政界人士，监管着一个非常重要的特大城市，本身又是一个亿万富翁、媒体大亨和大慈善家。

Microsoft founder Bill Gates was fourth, while Pope Benedict XVI, leader of the world`s 1.2 billion Catholics, ranked fifth.
微软创立者比尔•盖茨排在第四位，领导全球12亿天主教徒的教皇本笃十六世排在第五位。

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was 25th. He dropped from 9th in last year`s ranking because Facebook`s debut this year as a listed company was a dud, Forbes said.
Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格名列第25位。福布斯说，他相比去年排名（第9位）下降了，因为Facebook今年上市后表现不佳。