2007 The TIME TOP 100
Who are the people making a difference? TIME makes its annual picks of the 100 most influential men and women shaping our world.
德国总理默克尔
以色列外长利夫尼
英国女皇伊莉莎白
Angela Merkel
By Henry A. Kissinger
In 1989 Angela Merkel was working as a researcher in physics at the Institute for Physical Chemistry, East German Academy of Sciences in East Berlin. She had never participated in political activity. Then the Berlin Wall fell, and shortly afterward, Merkel joined the Christian Democratic Union of East Germany. By 2000 she had been elected chairperson of the Christian Democratic Union of a unified Germany. In 2005 she became Chancellor.
Merkel's leadership style is the art of accomplishing great goals through the accumulation of nuance. Thoughtful but tenacious, she moves toward her goals with inward assurance. In foreign policy she has balanced Germany's close relations with the U.S. and the necessity of cooperation with Russia. In the rotating office of the European Union presidency, she has given a new impetus to European integration. If gradualism becomes too pervasive, she will run the risk of stagnation. But I think that Merkel, 52, will push reform to the point of inevitability, softening her determination by unobtrusiveness and an aura of competence. If that happens, Merkel will have become a German equivalent of Britain's Lady Margaret Thatcher—different in style yet comparable in results.
Kissinger is a former U.S. Secretary of State
Tzipi Livni
By Condoleezza Rice
It was late summer in 1999, and I was in Israel. President Bush was still Governor Bush, and I
was traveling as his foreign policy adviser. In a meeting with Ariel Sharon, I met one of his
advisers—a confident and impressive woman, roughly my age (well, actually a little younger),
named Tzipi Livni.
Little did I know how intertwined our lives and work would become. Last May, Tzipi, like me,
became the second woman ever to hold her nation's top foreign policy job. Those early months
were anything but easy: violence in Gaza, a war in Lebanon, a radical President in Iran. Tzipi's
strength to endure, indeed to excel, in what were difficult, often heartbreaking, conditions was
a testament to her character. Tzipi and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have the foresight to know
that a Palestinian state is in Israel's greatest interest, and that they must pursue the cause
of peace with their Arab neighbors. President Bush and I deeply share this goal. And for Tzipi
and me, it is now the focus of our work together.
Tzipi has not just been my colleague; she has become my friend. We have sat together for hours
debating ideas—freely, openly, even combatively at times. I have learned of her deep pride in
her children. We share an abiding respect for our now deceased fathers—mine, a successful son
of the old segregated American South; hers, a defender of the Jewish homeland in its first days
of independence.
Tzipi, 48, is a woman of conviction, intelligence and peace. I deeply respect her. I like being
around her. And I know that long after we have both exited the world stage, we'll still be
friends.
Rice is U.S. Secretary of State
Queen Elizabeth II
By Catherine Mayer
Helen Mirren may have scooped an Oscar for her portrayal of the Queen, head of state of Britain and 15 Commonwealth countries, but it is Elizabeth Windsor who continues to define the role. It was thrust upon her in 1952 by the premature death of her father, and she has not left the stage since. Yet unlike the celebrities and politicians with whom she regularly exchanges pleasantries, the most famous woman in the world has never given an interview.
That reserve was interpreted as indifference in the turbulent months after Princess Diana died, when Britons contemplated burying their monarchy. A decade later the institution is solid, thanks largely to Elizabeth's steady hand. At 81, Her Majesty is still cutting ribbons, laying wreaths, greeting dignitaries and making speeches in a voice that has resisted the temptation to seek acceptance through reinvention. That's the secret of the Queen's success: she understands the need for reforms, such as slimming the costs of her family to the taxpayer and opening her accounts to public scrutiny, but she has never compromised her identity. However, like her beloved corgis and dorgis (a dachshund cross), she occasionally slips the leash, says her second son, Prince Andrew. Once, on a walk, she encountered one of her subjects, who exclaimed, "You look just like the Queen!" "How very reassuring," Her Majesty replied. Many Britons feel the same way.
tenacious: Holding or tending to hold persistently to something, such as a point of view
gradualism: The belief in or the policy of advancing toward a goal by gradual, often slow stages.渐进主义
unobtrusive: Not undesirably noticeable or blatant
aura: A distinctive but intangible quality that seems to surround a person or thing
intertwine: To join or become joined by twining together.使缠绕在一起
testament: Something that serves as tangible proof or evidence
deceased: No longer living
conviction: A fixed or strong belief
pleasantry: A humorous remark or act
reserve: Self-restraint in expression
monarchy: 由君主统治或领导的国家
dignitaries: A person of high rank or position
reinvent: To make over completely
slip: To release, loose, or unfasten
subject: One who is under the rule of another or others, especially one who owes allegiance to a government or ruler臣民
