There are nearly 7.1 billion people on the planet. These are the 71 that matter the most.
地球上大约有71亿人，我们的榜单中挑选了其中最重要的71个。

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.
美国总统、罗马教皇和脸书创始人都有什么共同点？那就是他们都登上了2012福布斯最具影响力人物排行榜，来看看本年度真正主宰世界的总统、金融家、慈善家以及企业家。

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.
为了做好这个榜单，我们考虑了世界范围内各行各业成百上千位候选人，从四个角度权衡了他们的实力。首先我们探寻的是这些人是否对很多人有控制权。位于第五的罗马教皇本笃十六世，是超过十亿天主教徒的精神领袖，这几乎占到了全球人口的六分之一。沃尔玛的CEO麦道克（排行17）有超过2百万的员工。

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.
接下来我们考察了每个人掌控的财产。跟同龄人相比，他们是否真的那么富有呢？我们用GDP衡量市长；而对于CEO，我们看的是他们公司资产以及税收。当候选人有很高的个人资本净值，比如世界首富卡洛斯·斯利姆·埃卢（排行11），我们也会将其在考虑范围之内。在某些情况下，比如沙特阿拉伯国王阿卜杜拉·本·阿卜杜勒-阿齐兹（排行第7），我们考虑的是候选人名下拥有的其他更重要的资源，比如说世界上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.
接下来我们要考察候选人是否在其他领域同样具有影响力。我们的榜单只会有71个人，也就是一亿人中挑选出一个，所以仅在一个领域有影响力是远远不够的。我们选择了不同的方式衡量他们：纽约市长迈克尔布隆伯格（排行16），既是政治家，又是亿万富翁，还是传媒大王，更是慈善家，其影响力可见一斑。

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.
美国总统奥巴马成功连任，当之无愧的成为了世界上最具影响力的人物。奥巴马赢得了2012年美国总统大选，于是又多了四年任期。总统要面临很多挑战，包括尚未解决的财政危机，超高的失业率以及中东动乱。但奥巴马仍毫无疑问的是世界最伟大军队的统帅，以及美国强大经济和文化能力的唯一领袖。

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年最具权势人物榜第二位的恰好是最有影响力的女人：德国总理安吉拉·默克尔，她从去年的第四一跃成为今年榜单上的亚军。默克尔是27个欧盟成员国的主心骨，她掌握着欧元的命脉，在欧洲债务危机期间，她强硬的紧缩政策已经展现出她的能力。

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岁的脸书CEO马克·扎克伯格（排行25）是榜单中最年轻人物之一。自从脸书备受关注的IPO项目失败之后，他的排行即从去年的前十位跌落至今年的25名。巴西总统迪尔玛·罗塞夫（排行18）是榜单中最大的赢家之一：在她第一个任期中期，罗塞夫所强调的创业精神促使一系列新的创业公司诞生，也给巴西青年带来了正能量。

福布斯2012最具权势人物榜排名前十位：