普京當選《時代》年度人物

Russian President Pution was named Time maganzine's "Person of the Year"

Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" on Wednesday for imposing stability that restored Russia as a world power.

The magazine recognized Putin's "extraordinary feat of leadership in taking a country that was in chaos and bringing it stability," said Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor.

The magazine noted that "Person of the Year" is not an honor or an endorsement but a recognition of leadership that shapes the world.

Putin, 55, is enormously popular in Russia, presiding over a resurgent economy flush with revenue from oil and natural gas.

Putin recently endorsed vice-PM Dmitry Medvedev's presidential bid, and said he would accept Medvedev's offer to serve as prime minister if Medvedev is elected March 2.

The Kremlin said Wednesday the Time recognition was seen there as an acknowledgment of Putin's role in helping Russia pull out of its social and economic troubles in the 1990s.

Others considered for Person of the Year included Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore and author J.K. Rowling.

This year's choice was a return to the magazine's tradition of picking an individual rather than last year's choice of “You”, which refers to anyone creating or using content on the World Wide Web.

Putin is the fifth Russian (or Soviet) leader to be named Person of the Year: Gorbachev, Andropov, Khrushchev and Stalin, who was named twice.

本週三，俄羅斯總統普京被《時代》雜誌評爲“2007年度人物”。普京之所以當選，是因爲他在執政期間穩定了俄羅斯的政局，使俄羅斯重歸世界強國之列。

該雜誌執行總編理查德•斯坦格爾說，《時代》雜誌讚賞普京“作爲領導人所取得的卓越成績，他領導俄羅斯從混亂走向穩定”。

《時代》雜誌指出，“年度人物”不是一項榮譽，也不是一種認可，而是對改變世界的個人或力量的承認。

55歲的普京總統在俄羅斯深受愛戴，在他的領導下，以石油和天然氣爲支柱的俄羅斯經濟走上了全面復甦的道路。

近日，普京支持副總理梅德韋傑夫參加俄羅斯下屆總統選舉。他表示，如果梅德韋傑夫明年3月2日當選總統，他將接受梅德韋傑夫的邀請，出任國家總理。

克里姆林宮於本週三表示，普京當選《時代》年度人物是《時代》雜誌對其政績的承認，普京總統帶領俄羅斯走出了上世紀90年代的社會和經濟困境。

其他幾位年度人物候選人包括諾貝爾獎得主艾爾•戈爾和作家J·K•羅琳。

今年《時代》年度人物的評選又恢復了以往選擇單個人的傳統，去年的年度人物是“你”，代表創造和使用互聯網內容的所有用戶。

普京是第五位當選《時代》年度人物的俄羅斯（包括前蘇聯）領導人，其他幾位領導人包括：戈爾巴喬夫、安德羅波夫、赫魯曉夫以及曾兩次當選的斯大林。

flush with:having a lot of sth, esp money; well supplied（充足；例如：flush with funds 資金充足）