Reagan voted 'greatest American'	里根笑傲群雄 荣膺“最伟大的美国人”
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 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)	美国前总统罗纳德·里根日前被其国民评选为有史以来“最伟大的美国人”。 里根于去年逝世，享年93岁。他位列榜首，而前十名中共有六位美国前总统。 里根以微小的优势领先于废除奴隶制的亚伯拉罕·林肯和民权运动领袖马丁·路德·金。 而一些在美国历史中赫赫有名的人物，如阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦和登上月球的第一人尼尔·阿姆斯特朗，均未能进入前十名。 脱口秀女主持人奥普拉·温弗里名列第九，是排名最高的女性，她成为全美最伟大的女性。 被称为国父的美国第一任总统乔治·华盛顿，屈居第四位。 美国现任总统乔治·布什及其前任比尔·克林顿均在前十之列，尽管后者曾因莱温斯基性丑闻事件而脸面扫地。 共有240多万美国人通过电邮、电话、寄选票等方式参加了这场由探索频道和美国在线组织的评选。 观察家们认为，尽管在职期间，里根常被指责智力低下，不能胜任总统职责，但是在他去世之后，数百万美国人又乐观地看待其担任总统时的表现，里根的形象也随之得到了提升。 在里根两届总统任期内（1981-1989），美国经济空前繁荣，而苏联集团土崩瓦解，美国人民的自豪感在经历越南战争的打击之后逐渐开始恢复。 2002年，英国也曾举行过类似的评选活动。二战时的首相温斯顿·丘吉尔被评选为“最伟大的英国人”。 2005年4月，法国也举行了类似的评选。前总统查尔斯·戴高乐名列第一，而最终入围的还包括两位科学家：路易斯·巴斯德和玛丽·居里。 而2003年在德国举行的评选中，前总理康拉德·阿登纳击败宗教改革运动的领袖马丁·路德和政治思想家卡尔·马克思，荣登榜首，后者分列第二、三位。进入前十名单的还有阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦和印刷机的发明者约翰·谷登堡。 （中国日报网站译）