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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) |
美國前總統羅納德·里根日前被其國民評選為有史以來“最偉大的美國人”。
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前總統。
里根以微小的優勢領先于廢除奴隸制的亞伯拉罕·林肯和民權運動領袖馬丁·路德·金。
而一些在美國歷史中赫赫有名的人物，如阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦和登上月球的第一人尼爾·阿姆斯特朗，均未能進入前十名。
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。
被稱為國父的美國第一任總統喬治·華盛頓，屈居第四位。
美國現任總統喬治·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多萬美國人通過電郵、電話、寄選票等方式參加了這場由探索頻道和美國在線組織的評選。
觀察家們認為，盡管在職期間，里根常被指責智力低下，不能勝任總統職責，但是在他去世之后，數百萬美國人又樂觀地看待其擔任總統時的表現，里根的形象也隨之得到了提升。
在里根兩屆總統任期內（1981-1989），美國經濟空前繁榮，而蘇聯集團土崩瓦解，美國人民的自豪感在經歷越南戰爭的打擊之后逐漸開始恢復。
2002年，英國也曾舉行過類似的評選活動。二戰時的首相溫斯頓·丘吉爾被評選為“最偉大的英國人”。
2005年4月，法國也舉行了類似的評選。前總統查爾斯·戴高樂名列第一，而最終入圍的還包括兩位科學家：路易斯·巴斯德和瑪麗·居里。
而2003年在德國舉行的評選中，前總理康拉德·阿登納擊敗宗教改革運動的領袖馬丁·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。進入前十名單的還有阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦和印刷機的發明者約翰·谷登堡。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-30 09:48