There are nearly 7.1 billion people on the planet. These are the 71 that matter the most.
地球上大約有71億人，我們的榜單中挑選了其中最重要的71個(gè)。

What do the president of the United States, the Pope and the founder of Facebook all have in common? They’re all featured on Forbes’ 2012 ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People –an annual look at the heads of state, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly run the world.
美國(guó)總統(tǒng)、羅馬教皇和臉書創(chuàng)始人都有什么共同點(diǎn)？那就是他們都登上了2012福布斯最具影響力人物排行榜，來看看本年度真正主宰世界的總統(tǒng)、金融家、慈善家以及企業(yè)家。

To compile the list, we considered hundreds of candidates from various walks of life all around the globe, and measured their power along four dimensions. First, we asked whether the candidate has power over lots of people. Pope Benedict XVI, ranked #5 on our list, is the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics, or about 1/6th of the world’s population. Michael Duke (#17), CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, employs two million people.
為了做好這個(gè)榜單，我們考慮了世界范圍內(nèi)各行各業(yè)成百上千位候選人，從四個(gè)角度權(quán)衡了他們的實(shí)力。首先我們探尋的是這些人是否對(duì)很多人有控制權(quán)。位于第五的羅馬教皇本篤十六世，是超過十億天主教徒的精神領(lǐng)袖，這幾乎占到了全球人口的六分之一。沃爾瑪?shù)腃EO麥道克（排行17）有超過2百萬的員工。

Next we assessed the financial resources controlled by each person. Are they relatively large compared to their peers? For heads of state we used GDP, while for CEOs, we looked at measures like their company’s assets and revenues. When candidates have a high personal net worth –like the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu (#11)– we also took that into consideration. In certain instances, like Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud (#7), we considered other valuable resources at the candidate’s disposal –like 20% of the world’s known oil reserves.
接下來我們考察了每個(gè)人掌控的財(cái)產(chǎn)。跟同齡人相比，他們是否真的那么富有呢？我們用GDP衡量市長(zhǎng)；而對(duì)于CEO，我們看的是他們公司資產(chǎn)以及稅收。當(dāng)候選人有很高的個(gè)人資本凈值，比如世界首富卡洛斯·斯利姆·埃盧（排行11），我們也會(huì)將其在考慮范圍之內(nèi)。在某些情況下，比如沙特阿拉伯國(guó)王阿卜杜拉·本·阿卜杜勒-阿齊茲（排行第7），我們考慮的是候選人名下?lián)碛械钠渌匾馁Y源，比如說世界上20%的石油。

Then we determined if the candidate is powerful in multiple spheres. There are only 71 slots on our list – one for every 100 million people on the planet – so being powerful in just one area is often not enough. Our picks project their influence in myriad ways: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (#16) has power because he’s a politician, because he’s a billionaire, because he’s a media magnate, and because he’s a major philanthropist.
接下來我們要考察候選人是否在其他領(lǐng)域同樣具有影響力。我們的榜單只會(huì)有71個(gè)人，也就是一億人中挑選出一個(gè)，所以僅在一個(gè)領(lǐng)域有影響力是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠的。我們選擇了不同的方式衡量他們：紐約市長(zhǎng)邁克爾布隆伯格（排行16），既是政治家，又是億萬富翁，還是傳媒大王，更是慈善家，其影響力可見一斑。

U.S. President Barack Obama emerged, unanimously, as the world’s most powerful person, for the second year running. Obama was the decisive winner of the 2012 U.S. presidential election, and now he gets four more years to push his agenda.The President faces major challenges, including an unresolved budget crisis, stubbornly high unemployment and renewed unrest in the Middle East. But Obama remains the unquestioned commander in chief of the world’s greatest military, and head of its sole economic and cultural superpower.
美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬成功連任，當(dāng)之無愧的成為了世界上最具影響力的人物。奧巴馬贏得了2012年美國(guó)總統(tǒng)大選，于是又多了四年任期?？偨y(tǒng)要面臨很多挑戰(zhàn)，包括尚未解決的財(cái)政危機(jī)，超高的失業(yè)率以及中東動(dòng)亂。但奧巴馬仍毫無疑問的是世界最偉大軍隊(duì)的統(tǒng)帥，以及美國(guó)強(qiáng)大經(jīng)濟(jì)和文化能力的唯一領(lǐng)袖。

The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman: Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, jumps up from #4 last year to take the runner-up spot on the list. Merkel is the backbone of the 27-member European Union and carries the fate of the Euro on her shoulders; she’s shown her power through a hard-line austerity solution for the European debt crisis.
排在2012年最具權(quán)勢(shì)人物榜第二位的恰好是最有影響力的女人：德國(guó)總理安吉拉·默克爾，她從去年的第四一躍成為今年榜單上的亞軍。默克爾是27個(gè)歐盟成員國(guó)的主心骨，她掌握著歐元的命脈，在歐洲債務(wù)危機(jī)期間，她強(qiáng)硬的緊縮政策已經(jīng)展現(xiàn)出她的能力。

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (#25) is one of the youngest persons on the list, at age 29; he dropped significantly from last year’s top-ten ranking after Facebook’s much-anticipated IPO turned out to be a flop. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff (#18) is one of the list’s biggest gainers: At the midpoint of her first term, Rousseff’s emphasis on entrepreneurship has prompted a slew of new startups and energized Brazilian youths.
29歲的臉書CEO馬克·扎克伯格（排行25）是榜單中最年輕人物之一。自從臉書備受關(guān)注的IPO項(xiàng)目失敗之后，他的排行即從去年的前十位跌落至今年的25名。巴西總統(tǒng)迪爾瑪·羅塞夫（排行18）是榜單中最大的贏家之一：在她第一個(gè)任期中期，羅塞夫所強(qiáng)調(diào)的創(chuàng)業(yè)精神促使一系列新的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司誕生，也給巴西青年帶來了正能量。

福布斯2012最具權(quán)勢(shì)人物榜排名前十位：