Forbes magazine yesterday published its annual list of the 400 wealthiest people in America.
昨日,《福布斯》发布了美国400位富豪的年度排行榜。
Sam Moore Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart Department Store chain heads the list for the second year in a row with a total worth of 4.5 billion dollars.
沃尔玛百货公司的创始人山姆·沃尔顿以45亿美元的财富值蝉联首位。
Other familiar names on the list include chicken producer Frank Perdue;
其他为人所熟知的还有鸡肉生产商弗兰克·珀杜、
fashion designer Ralph Lauren, and TV producers Merv Griffin and Dick Clark,
时尚设计师拉夫·劳伦、电视制作人梅夫·格里芬和迪克·克拉克,
each worth more than the minimum 180,000,000 dollars needed to get on the list.
每位榜上有名的富豪,其财富值都不低于1.8亿美元。
That minimum figure was up from 150,000,000 last year.
而去年进入福布斯排行榜的门槛值是1.5亿美元。
Also the number of billionaires jumped from 14 to 26.
此外,亿万富翁的人数也曾14名上升至26名。
We asked Forbes' Editor Harry Seneker to help us interpret those figures.
我们采访了《福布斯》编辑哈里塞·尼克,请他为我们解读了这些数字背后的含义。
Well, it shows that the rich do get richer, and it also shows that we've been doing a little more of our homework each year.
这个情况表明,富人的财富值提升了,同时也表明我们每年的工作量也在小幅加大。
It's quite a lot of work to refine your estimates of what people's assets are worth when they are not very eager to co-operate with you.
要在别人不愿意配合的情况下估算出他们的财富值需要做很多的工作。
And each year we get a little better. Each year we find a few new ones that we'd missed before.
每年,我们都会有些惊喜,每年都会有一些早就该上榜的人登上榜单。
And some people are left off this list because they don't co-operate, Malcolm Forbes, for one.
有些人被漏掉是因为他们没有全力配合,比如迈尔康·福布斯。
Oh no, he's in there. It's just that we wouldn't, for the life of us, say exactly where.
其实他一直都属于这个名单,只是我们很难确定他位列多少名。
You started this list about 5 years ago. Why did it start? Why do you continue to do it?
您是5年前开始着手这个名单的,您的初衷是什么呢?是什么支持您做到现在呢?
Why? Well, it started...the short answer for why it started is that Malcolm Forbes thought that people would be interested in it and insisted on us doing it and doing it right.
为什么要做这件事呢,简单来说就是,迈尔康·福布斯觉得大家会对这样的排位感兴趣,所以坚持让我们以公正地方式来做这件事。
But he didn't want to co-operate himself.
但他本人是不想配合的。
Well, you run into certain problems with the IRS and inheritance taxes if you put a number on yourself.
是这样的,如果把自己的财富值也公之于众就会在美国国税局那里和遗产税方面遇到麻烦:
You want to negotiate that figure, or your heirs do.
迈尔康·福布斯先生或者他的继承人就要商讨这个数字是多少。
Is there any commonality to how these people have achieved such wealth?
这些富人身上有什么共性吗?
Did they earn it the old-fashioned way?
他们是用传统方法致富的吗?
Well, at some point, everybody, every fortune had to be earned the old-fashioned way.
从某种程度而言,每个人都要用传统方法来获得每桶金。
And the old-fashioned way is, you set up a business that can be multiplied indefinitely beyond the limitations of your own personal efforts.
所谓传统方法就是:成立一家公司,然后使它无限成长,达到靠自己之力无法企及的程度。
It can be an oil business, like John D. Rockefeller did with the Standard Oil Trust.
公司类型可以是石油公司,比如约翰·戴维森·洛克菲勒创办的标准石油公司。
It could be, you know, an organization that can produce dozens of game shows like Merv Griffin.
也可以是娱乐公司,比如梅夫·格里芬的公司。
But of most of them that are on the list, say, this year, are they new to the list, new wealth, or is this mostly inherited fortunes?
但大多数榜上有名的富豪,他们都是新晋富豪还是通过继承财富而晋升榜单的呢?
There's a mix of both. You know, the new arrivals are mostly new wealth.
两种情况都有,不过大多数都薪金富豪。
Every once in a while, we find a branch of an old family that we really should have included.
每隔一段时间,我们就会在熟悉的家族面孔里发现新的富豪对象。
And this year we found a few Melons out there in Pittsburgh.
比如,今年,我们在匹兹堡发现了梅隆家族的一些新晋富豪。
Who's the youngest on the list this year?
今年的富豪名单中,最年轻的是哪位呢?
One of those. His name is Michael Carrier.
其中一位就是迈克尔·卡里尔。
But, you know, he goes back to the Melons on his mother's side. And he is how old? He's twenty-five.
他是以娘家人的身份登上富豪榜的。他今年多大了呢?25岁。
And how much is he worth? On the order of a couple of hundred million dollars.
他财富值多少呢?几亿美元。
You should understand with people like the Melons, it is enormously hard to get a sense of just how much is out there.
我们也能理解像他们家族这样的富豪人家,家缠万贯数不清了。
We think we're being conservative with that figure.
我觉得这个数字还是有些保守了。
What about the oldest? Who's the oldest on the list?
那年事最高的是哪位呢?
The oldest is lady named Dorothy Stimson Bullit. And she's known out in the Washington state.
是一位女士,名叫桃乐茜·斯廷森·布利特。她在华盛顿州家喻户晓。
She has some radio stations and real estate out there. The lady is ninety-four.
华盛顿州有一些她名下的无线电台和房地产。她今年已经94岁了。
Do you get any mail response from this? People write in and have comments about it?
有用户写信反馈过这件事吗?
We get people writing in saying, Gee you missed so-and-so.
收到过大家的反馈说,你看,你又漏掉了某某人等等。
Once in a while, we get somebody who writes in and says, You missed me.
有时候,我们会收到来信说,你把我漏掉了。
He's usually exaggerating Harry Seneker, Senior Editor of Forbes magazine.
哈里塞·尼克的画风总是比较夸张。