Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named Person of the Year by Time magazine on Wednesday, giving him a high-profile boost as he tries to fend¹ off proposals that might weaken the Fed's independence.

《时代》杂志年度人物于本周三揭晓，美国联邦储备委员会主席本•伯南克当选。时值伯南克试图限制可能会削弱美联储独立性提议的当口，当选《时代》年度人物无疑将大助其一臂之力。

The selection puts the mild-mannered Bernanke, a former professor, in the company of U.S. President Barack Obama, Pope John Paul II and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among other prominent突出的，杰出的 world figures the magazine has picked in past years.

The Senate is considering Bernanke's nomination² to a second term to head the Fed -- the US central bank -- and while he is expected to win confirmation³, criticism of the Fed among the public and members of Congress is at its highest in decades.

The Fed's role in bailouts跳伞，紧急救助 of Wall Street has prompted criticism from both Republicans and Democrats⁴. Some lawmakers are pushing proposals to curb⁶ the Fed's regulatory powers and open up its interest rate利率 decision to congressional audits审计.

The Fed worries that congressional second-guessing of its policy decisions would compromise its fiercely-guarded independence.

One poll by Rasmussen Reports this month showed public support for Bernanke's nomination at a scant缺乏的，勉强够的 21 percent, with 41 percent stating opposition⁹, but he continues to enjoy support on Wall Street and among many lawmakers.

"Ben is the person that kept us from going over the edge of the precipice悬崖，绝壁 and into the abyss深渊，无底洞," said former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, now a senior economic adviser¹¹ at Soleil Securities.

But Republican Senator Jim Bunning, one of the Fed's sharpest critics, said Time's pick was a reward for "failure."

"Many of the problems our markets are facing right now could have been avoided had Chairman Bernanke not been asleep at the switch," Bunning said in a statement.

Time credited the 56-year-old Bernanke with creative leadership that helped set the U.S. economy on a path to recovery even as he and other policy makers⁵ remain concerned about a high unemployment rate of 10 percent.