More Billionaires 亿万富翁数量有增无减

By Caroline Hepker, BBC News, New York

There are more mega-wealthy individuals than ever before

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 2011年福布斯富豪榜公布上榜名单，世界上有1210 名身家超过10亿美元的富翁上榜。这一数字比去年增加了214人。越来越多的来自亚洲等发展中国家的富豪登上榜单。

Forbes has been tracking the world's billionaires since 1987 and this year there are more mega-wealthy individuals than ever before.

The world's richest man is still Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecoms tycoon is worth $74 billion. The US has Microsoft's Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett plus six Facebook billionaires, 413 American billionaires in all. But fast growing rivals are challenging US dominance.

Asia now has 332 billionaires, even more than in Europe. One hundred and fifteen billionaires are in China, many created as Chinese companies have listed on the stock market. And Moscow is the city with the most billionaire residents.

Commodities like steel and oil have soared in price creating fortunes this year, the authors of the survey warn they may not last.