Yuan Longping：The Father of Hybrid Rice 袁隆平：杂交水稻之父

CRI

“杂交水稻之父”“共和国勋章”获得者袁隆平，因多器官功能衰竭，于2021年5月22日在长沙逝世，享年91岁。“人就像种子，要做一粒好种子”，袁隆平院士用一生为这句话写下了注脚。阅读本期文章，一起缅怀袁爷爷！

“I saw rice plants as tall as Chinese 1）sorghum， each ear of rice as big as a broom and each grain of rice as huge as a peanut. I could hide in the shadow of the rice crops with a friend.”

This is a famous dream of the 2）renowned agricultural

1） sorghum [?s??ɡ?m] n.高粱

2） renowned [r??na?nd] adj.有名的

scientist Yuan Longping.

Yuan Longping is one of the most important scientists in contemporary China. Having spent over 50 years in agricultural research， he has made a remarkable contribution in solving the problem of feeding the massive population of China.

Yuan Longping's interest in agriculture began when he was still in primary school.

“We went to a 3）horticultural garden on outing led by our teacher. The garden was beautiful and there were nice fruits like grapes. I thought it would be a great thing to learn agriculture.”

Despite his parents wishes that he study science or medicine， Yuan Longping chose to study agriculture at university. After graduation， Yuan was assigned as a teacher in an agricultural school in a small town called Anjiang in Hunan province， where he stayed for 19 years. Although he was initially assigned to teach Russian there， Anjiang was the place where Yuan Longping started his hybrid rice research and eventually developed the world-famous three-line hybrid rice.

During the period from late 1950's to the early 1960's， China suffered from a nationwide 4）famine. Yuan Longping saw the suffering firsthand.

The tragic scene left a long-term impression on Yuan Longping， and he decided to make an effort to ensure that people in the future would have enough food to eat. Since then， he has devoted himself to the research and development of a better rice breed. Yuan Longping's research was not supported in the beginning. Many experts doubted his theory and did not believe he would succeed. After several years of study and research of more than 6，000 rice plants in the field， in 1964， Yuan Longping finally found a natural hybrid rice plant that had obvious advantages over others. This was a key to his research. After over a decade of effort， Yuan's group developed the first high-yielding hybrid rice varietal in 1974. This rice yielded 20 percent more per unit than other rice plants， putting China in the lead in worldwide rice production.

3） horticultural [?h??t??k?lt??r?l] adj.園艺的

4）famine [?f?m?n] n.饥荒

5） stock [st?k] n.股票    6） ample [??mpl] adj.富足的

Thanks to Yuan Longping's persistence， as much as 50 percent of China's total rice fields now grow his hybrid rice， yielding 60 percent of the rice production in China. However， Yuan Longping is not satisfied with his current achievement and is still studying ways to develop rice varietals with even higher yields.

Yuan Longping's achievement has brought him numerous awards and honors both at home and abroad. And to get more funds for research， he donated his name in business. In 2000， a seed company called Longping High Tech opened for business， in which Yuan Longping got 5）stock worth 100 million yuan. His name is now estimated to be worth over 100 billion yuan as a brand. However， fame and wealth mean much less to him than his research. He resigned from the company two years later and went on developing better rice.

“I am not a businessman， and my main job is doing research. Too much money would be a big burden.”

His hybrid rice has already been adopted in over 20 countries and is attracting attention from the whole world， especially in areas at risk for famine. Yuan Longping's achievement is considered a victory over the threat of famine， and some economists say that Yuan is ushering us into a world with 6）ample food.

At 13：07 on May 22， Yuan Longping died of multiple organ failure in Changsha.

參考译文：

“我梦见水稻如高粱一般高，稻穗和扫把一样长，谷粒犹如花生米那样大。人们可以在稻穗之下乘凉。”这是知名农业科学家袁隆平的一个著名梦想。

袁隆平是当代中国最重要的科学家之一。他从事农业研究50多年，为解决中国庞大人口的吃饭问题做出了卓越贡献。

袁隆平对农业的兴趣始于他还在上小学的时候。

“我们在老师的带领下去参观一个园艺场。那里很漂亮，看很好吃的水果如葡萄。我认为学习农业是一件很好的事情。”

尽管父母希望他学习科学或医学，袁隆平还是选择了在大学学习农业。毕业后，他被分配到湖南省一个叫安江的小镇上的一所农业学校当教师，他在那里生活了19年。虽然最初被派到安江教俄语，但那是袁隆平开始杂交水稻研究并最终开发出世界著名的三系杂交水稻的地方。

20世纪50年代末到60年代初，中国遭受了全国性的饥荒。袁隆平目睹了中国人民遭受的苦难。

这给袁隆平留下了很深的印象，他决定努力保证人们有足够的食物吃。从那以后，他一直致力于研究和开发更好的水稻品种。袁隆平的研究从一开始就不被支持。许多专家怀疑他的理论，认为他不会成功。袁隆平在田间对6000多株水稻进行了多年的研究，1964年，他终于找到了一种天然杂交稻，这种杂交稻比其他水稻具有明显的优势。这对他的研究至关重要。经过十多年的努力，袁隆平团队于1974年培育出第一个高产杂交水稻品种。这种水稻的单产比其他水稻作物高出20%，使中国在世界水稻生产中处于领先地位。

由于袁隆平的坚持，现在中国有50%的稻田种植了他的杂交水稻，产量占中国水稻产量的60%。然而，袁隆平对自己目前的成就并不满意，仍在研究如何开发产量更高的水稻品种。

袁隆平的成就为他带来了无数的国内外奖项和荣誉。为了获得更多的研究经费，他把自己的名字捐给了商界。2000年，一家名为隆平高新的种子公司开业，袁隆平获得价值1亿元的股票。现在，他的品牌价值估计超过1000亿元人民币。然而，名利对他来说远不如他的研究重要。两年后，他辞去了公司的职务，继续开发更好的大米。

“我不是商人，我的主要工作是做研究。太多的钱会是一个很大的负担。”

他的杂交水稻已经在20多个国家被采用，引起了全世界的关注，特别是在面临饥荒危险的地区。袁隆平的成就被认为是战胜饥荒威胁的胜利，一些经济学家说，袁隆平正在带领我们进入一个粮食充足的世界。

5月22日13时7分，袁隆平因多器官功能衰竭在长沙逝世。