只要一提起他们的名字，人们就会联想到美国；不管他们愿不愿意，在其他国家人们的眼里，他们就代表着美国。
A national icon is someone who, by the mere mention of their name, will remind people of their country. Whether they like it or not, they are representatives of their nation to the rest of the world.

Top 10 : 罗纳德·里根

Ronald Reagan1

Best known for his role as the 40th President of the United States, Reagan started out as a radio announcer and Hollywood actor, having made over 50 films. He realized politics was his calling2 and in 1947 became President of the Screen Actors Guild3.

He changed his party affiliation4 from Democrat to Republican and was elected Governor of California in 1966. After taking over the White House in 1981, he served in this capacity5 for two terms. During those years, he showed the world what America is all about.

Best quote: "America is too great to dream small dreams."

Top9: 欧内斯特·海明威

Ernest Hemingway6

Hemingway is considered the greatest American fiction writer of the 20th century. He was an ambulance driver during World War I and a war correspondent during World War II. He wrote about his experiences as an American expatriate7 in Paris during the 1920s, hunting in Africa, and fishing off Cuba.

His direct and sparse way of writing became his trademark, which has often been imitated and parodied8. His works have earned him both the Pulitzer9 and the Nobel Prize. He supposedly committed suicide while struggling with a bout10 of depression, but he still remains one of the most prominent literary ambassadors America has ever had.

Best quote: "All things truly wicked start from an innocence."11

Top8: 弗兰克·西纳特拉

Frank Sinatra12

The single most popular crooner13 of all time, Frank Sinatra had early ambitions of becoming a journalist. By the time he was working as a sports reporter, a second career in singing was taking off. Before long, he was touring with a big band orchestra and embarking on a solo career in 1942.

He was a bona fide14 sensation, selling records faster than they could be printed. Regarded as the greatest entertainer of the 20th century, Sinatra deserves his status as an American icon.

Best quote: "A friend is never an imposition."

Top7: 詹姆斯·迪恩

James Dean15

James Dean was a kid from the Midwest. He studied acting and law in California but quit after getting a taste of the real thing on a TV show. He then moved to act on Broadway and got more guest appearances16 on television. His soft, unforced acting impressed both audience and producers.

He made three movies before his 1955 death in a car crash. East of Eden, Rebel without a Cause and Giant were not only critical and financial successes, but they showcased17 a new kind of actor that people had never seen before. Dean became more than an idol; he became a legend.

Best quote: "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."

Top6: 迈克尔·乔丹

Michael Jordan

Here's a man who lives the American Dream. Originally from Brooklyn18, Michael Jordan attended the University of North Carolina and proved that he truly was the best basketball player that ever lived by taking his team to the NCAA19 championship. He was soon drafted into the NBA as a guard for the Chicago Bulls. He led his team to six league championships and won the MVP20 award five times.

Also a savvy businessman, Air Jordan's fortune was estimated at $408 million in 2003.

Best quote: "I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."

Top5: 马丁·路德·金

Martin Luther King, Jr.

He had a dream. When he heard about a pacifist in India named Mahatma Gandhi21, and became enamored with22 Gandhi's methods of peaceful protest.

Openly supporting Rosa Parks23 and her refusal to relinquish her seat to a white bus passenger made him a target for his opponents and his house was bombed. But that just served to fuel his desire to see segregation terminated. He became a national advocate for civil liberties and inspired a nation to change its ways. His assassination in 1968 only proved that he was on the right track24.

Best quote: "If a man hasn't found something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

Top4: 约翰·韦恩

John Wayne25

The "Duke" was forced to leave college after an injury put an end to his football playing days. He had been working odd jobs at Fox Studios when he was finally noticed by executives. After a lead role in a major production failed to make him a star, he began to appear in low-budget films.

The movie that put him on the map was 1939's Stagecoach26, directed by John Ford, with whom Wayne would have a long professional relationship. The Duke became famous for playing tough guys in westerns and war pictures. He is the personification of the American of those days, a private and honest man of action.

Best quote: "I never trust a man that doesn't drink."

Top3: 艾尔维斯·普莱斯利（猫王）

Elvis Presley27

Since his death, he's been spotted at grocery stores, gas stations and diners; irrefutable evidence that his fans will love him eternally and still can't seem to accept his passing. He grew up in a poor home and taught himself how to play the guitar.

Later he recorded a song for his mother, which attracted the attention of a small-time producer. Elvis then recorded a couple of rockabilly28 singles, which became local hits. He finally shocked the nation in 1956 as a performer on The Ed Sullivan Show29--the nation had never heard, or seen, anything like it before. He will always be known as the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

Best quote: "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."

Top2: 玛丽莲·梦露

Marilyn Monroe30

Marilyn Monroe proved that where there's a will, there's a way. She overcame a childhood of abuse, worked as a swimsuit model, and eventually became one of the most famous movie stars of all time.

Her performances in films like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes confirmed she had as much talent as she did beauty. She even allegedly had affairs with President Kennedy and his Attorney General31, Bobby Kennedy. Her tragic death on August 5, 1962 was ruled a suicide by overmedication, which only intensified her perpetual allure and legendary status.

Best quote: "Sex is a part of nature. I go along with nature."

Top1: 约翰·肯尼迪

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The Kennedy clan is often considered the only Royal family the United States has ever had. What makes it so is not their wealth or political role, but rather the aura of nobility surrounding them. JFK was the embodiment of this. A Navy officer during World War II, he became a senator in 1952. Nine years later, he became the 35th American president.

His term in office was often dubbed the New Frontier32 since it was an era of change. He put an end to segregation, established the Peace Corps33, and masterminded the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.34

Unfortunately, he is often best remembered for his assassination in 1963. For all his youthful energy and magnetism, he represented the quintessence of America.

Best quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Notes：

1 Ronald Reagan：罗纳德·里根（1911- ），曾在艾奥瓦州电台体育节目任广播员五年，1937年成为好莱坞华纳兄弟电影公司的电影和电视演员，拍摄过50部影片，先后两次任影视演员协会主席。连任美国第49届和第50届总统（1981-1989）。

2 calling：职业，行业。

3 Screen Actors Guild：美国影视演员协会(也译作“美国演员协会”)，成立于1933年。

4 affiliation：从属关系。

5 capacity：地位，职位。

6 Ernest Hemingway：欧内斯特·海明威（1899-1961），美国小说家，获1954年诺贝尔奖。代表作有《老人与海》、《丧钟为谁而鸣》、《太阳照常升起》等，作品风格独特，文笔精练。

7 expatriate：移居国外者，背井离乡者。

8 parody：拙劣模仿。

9 Pulitzer：即Pulitzer Prize（普利策奖），美国一年一度颁发给新闻、文学、戏剧和音乐方面优秀作品之奖，于1917年首次授奖。

10 bout：发作。

11 所有的罪恶都始于清白。

12 Frank Sinatra：弗兰克·西纳特拉（1915-1998），美国最受欢迎的歌手之一，也是知名的演员和夜总会明星。

13 crooner：低声哼唱者，低吟歌手。

14 bona fide：<拉>真正的。

15 James Dean：詹姆斯·迪恩，好莱坞50年代当红的英俊小生。他颇具代表性地演绎出了一代人迷失方向的痛苦心态，他的穿着——T恤衫、皮夹克和牛仔裤——成了一代青年文化的标志，下文提到的三部电影分别是他主演的《伊甸之东》（1955年）、《无因的反抗》（1955年）和《巨人》（1956年）。

16 guest appearance：（友情）客串。

17 showcase：使展现，使亮相。

18 Brooklyn：布鲁克林，美国纽约市西南部的行政区名。

19 NCAA：National Collegiate Athletic Association，(美国）全国大学生体育协会。

20 MVP：=most valuable player, 最有价值球员。

21 Mahatma Gandhi：“圣雄”甘地（1869-1948），印度民族解放运动领袖，印度国大党主席[1925-1934]，首倡“非暴力抵抗”，多次发动反英“不合作”运动，领导争取印度独立的斗争，印度独立[1947]后，被印度教极右分子暗杀。Mahatma: （印度或中国西藏的）圣人，伟人。

22 be enamored with/of：倾心……，对……迷恋。

23 Rosa Parks：罗莎·帕克斯，民权先锋。1955年黑人妇女罗莎·帕克斯因为在公共汽车上拒绝给一名白人乘客让座而遭逮捕，这件事激起广大黑人民众的义愤。在马丁·路德·金等黑人领袖的组织下，黑人民众展开了声势浩大的抵制公共汽车运动。

24 on the right track：循着正确的路线，表示“做得对”。

25 John Wayne：约翰·韦恩（1907-1979），著名的西部牛仔明星，素有“公爵”之称，他在银幕上所表现的质朴敦厚与刚毅不屈也成为美国精神的代表，曾凭《大地惊雷》获奥斯卡最佳男主角奖，是20世纪30-70年代的十大卖座巨星之一。

26 由著名西部片导演约翰·福特执导的影片《驿站马车》。

27 Elvis Presley：“猫王”艾尔维斯·普莱斯利，美国著名摇滚歌手，20世纪美国流行音乐最重要的人物之一。

28 rockabilly：<美> 山区乡村摇滚乐（起源于美国东南部）。

29 The Ed Sullivan Show：“爱德·沙利文秀”，20世纪50-60年代美国最有名的电视综艺节目。

30 Marilyn Monroe：玛丽莲·梦露（1926-1962），美国历史上最成功的电影明星之一，主演过下文提到的《绅士们喜欢金发女郎》（1953年）以及《怎样嫁个百万富翁》（1954年）、《七年之痒》（1955年）和《有人爱热闹》（1959年）等影片。

31 Attorney General：<美>司法部长。

32 New Frontier：“新边疆”政策（时期）。“新边疆”政策系肯尼迪提出的施政方针。

33 Peace Corps：〈美〉和平队，由志愿人员组成的美国政府代表机构，成立于1961年，前往发展中国家提供技术服务。

34 mastermind：策划； the Cuban Missile Crisis：古巴导弹危机。1962年10月22日，美国总统肯尼迪宣布武装封锁古巴，要求苏联从古巴撤出进攻性武器，并威胁不惜使用武力，形成战争一触即发之势。经过与苏联多次斡旋、协商，最终以苏联从古巴运走武器和美国取消对古巴的海上封锁告终。