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We will always remember.
We
will always be proud.
We will always be prepared, so we
may always be free. - President Ronald Reagan,
Normandy, France
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Former US President Ronald Reagan has been voted
the "greatest American" of all time by his fellow citizens.
Mr Reagan, who died last year aged 93, topped a list of 10 contenders,
which featured six former presidents.
He edged out Abraham
Lincoln, who abolished slavery, and civil rights leader Martin Luther
King.
Some of the most notable
names of US history such as Albert Einstein and Neil
Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, did not make the top 10.
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is the highest ranked female contender at
ninth place, making her the greatest American woman.
George Washington, the first US president who is considered the father
of the nation, comes in at fourth place.
Current US President George W Bush and his predecessor Bill Clinton,
whose presidency was tarnished
by the Monica Lewinski sex scandal, are both in the top 10.
More than 2.4 million Americans cast their vote by phone, text or
e-mail in the poll, organised by the Discovery Channel and AOL.
Some observers suggest the image of Mr Reagan, who was criticised as an
intellectual lightweight
during his presidency, has been enhanced following his death as millions
of Americans cast a rose-tinted look back at his presidency.
His two terms in office (1981-1989) coincided with a period of economic
prosperity, the crumbling of the Soviet bloc and a renewed sense of pride
among Americans still reeling from the Vietnam War.
In a similar exercise held in the UK in 2002, wartime Prime Minister
Winston Churchill was voted the greatest Briton.
In France, where former President Charles de Gaulle finished first in
April 2005, the final list also contained two scientists, Louis Pasteur
and Marie Curie.
In a poll held in Germany in 2003, former Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
beat Reformation monk Martin Luther and political thinker Karl Marx into
second and third place in a top 10 that included Albert Einstein and the
inventor of the printing press Johannes Gutenberg.
(Agencies) |
美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)羅納德·里根日前被其國(guó)民評(píng)選為有史以來(lái)“最偉大的美國(guó)人”。
里根于去年逝世，享年93歲。他位列榜首，而前十名中共有六位美國(guó)前總統(tǒng)。
里根以微小的優(yōu)勢(shì)領(lǐng)先于廢除奴隸制的亞伯拉罕·林肯和民權(quán)運(yùn)動(dòng)領(lǐng)袖馬丁·路德·金。
而一些在美國(guó)歷史中赫赫有名的人物，如阿爾伯特·愛(ài)因斯坦和登上月球的第一人尼爾·阿姆斯特朗，均未能進(jìn)入前十名。
脫口秀女主持人奧普拉·溫弗里名列第九，是排名最高的女性，她成為全美最偉大的女性。
被稱(chēng)為國(guó)父的美國(guó)第一任總統(tǒng)喬治·華盛頓，屈居第四位。
美國(guó)現(xiàn)任總統(tǒng)喬治·布什及其前任比爾·克林頓均在前十之列，盡管后者曾因萊溫斯基性丑聞事件而臉面掃地。
共有240多萬(wàn)美國(guó)人通過(guò)電郵、電話(huà)、寄選票等方式參加了這場(chǎng)由探索頻道和美國(guó)在線(xiàn)組織的評(píng)選。
觀察家們認(rèn)為，盡管在職期間，里根常被指責(zé)智力低下，不能勝任總統(tǒng)職責(zé)，但是在他去世之后，數(shù)百萬(wàn)美國(guó)人又樂(lè)觀地看待其擔(dān)任總統(tǒng)時(shí)的表現(xiàn)，里根的形象也隨之得到了提升。
在里根兩屆總統(tǒng)任期內(nèi)（1981-1989），美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)空前繁榮，而蘇聯(lián)集團(tuán)土崩瓦解，美國(guó)人民的自豪感在經(jīng)歷越南戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)的打擊之后逐漸開(kāi)始恢復(fù)。
2002年，英國(guó)也曾舉行過(guò)類(lèi)似的評(píng)選活動(dòng)。二戰(zhàn)時(shí)的首相溫斯頓·丘吉爾被評(píng)選為“最偉大的英國(guó)人”。
2005年4月，法國(guó)也舉行了類(lèi)似的評(píng)選。前總統(tǒng)查爾斯·戴高樂(lè)名列第一，而最終入圍的還包括兩位科學(xué)家：路易斯·巴斯德和瑪麗·居里。
而2003年在德國(guó)舉行的評(píng)選中，前總理康拉德·阿登納擊敗宗教改革運(yùn)動(dòng)的領(lǐng)袖馬丁·路德和政治思想家卡爾·馬克思，榮登榜首，后者分列第二、三位。進(jìn)入前十名單的還有阿爾伯特·愛(ài)因斯坦和印刷機(jī)的發(fā)明者約翰·谷登堡。
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-30 09:48