The Story of Yuan Longping袁隆平的故事

Chinese children recite a Tang dynasty poem that credits the farmer’s sweat and toil1 for the rice on their plates. They should also acknowledge crop scientist Yuan Longping， the ‘father of hybrid rice’， the higher-yielding crop that feeds billions. He died on 22 May 2021， aged 90.

中国孩子们常吟诵一首唐诗，感谢农民的辛勤劳作带来盘中美餐。他们也应当铭记农业科学家、杂交水稻之父袁隆平的功绩，他培育的高产水稻养活了数十亿人。袁隆平于2021年5月22日离世，享年90岁。

As a key player in the Green Revolution， Yuan became one of China’s most famous scientists， rising to direct the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center in Changsha. When the Olympics came to China in 2008， he carried the torch.

作为“绿色革命”的关键人物，袁隆平跻身于中国最为著名的科学家之列，还曾担任位于长沙的国家杂交水稻工程技术研究中心的主任。2008年北京举办奥运会时，他还做过火炬手。

His dedication to rice production increase to feed the people dates back to the mid-20th century when China was going through a tough time.

他一生致力于增加水稻产量，养活更多人口，这一事业可以追溯到20世纪中叶，中国的困难时期。

A man marked by famine

亲历饥馑岁月

Yuan Longping was born in 1930 in Beijing. His mother， Hua Jing， taught English， and his father， Yuan Xinglie， was a schoolteacher who later became a railroad official. He often mentioned an example his mother set for him and his siblings. His level of education was very uncommon for Japanese occupied China in 1930s. Food was very much rationed during Japanese occupation， so one can say that his goal to end famine， could have started forming in his childhood.

1930年，袁隆平生于北平。母亲华静是英文教师，父亲袁兴烈原先也是教师，后来转职到铁路局工作。袁隆平常常提起母亲为他们兄弟姐妹树立的榜样。在1930年代遭受日本侵占的中国，他还能接受一定水准的教育，这相当罕见。日本侵华时期实行严格的粮食配给制，因此可以说，袁隆平也许在童年时期便怀有了终结饥馁的抱负。

He enrolled in college in 1949， and chose to study agronomy2. This choice was very uncommon， given that he did not have a rural background， and both his parents disapproved of his choice.

1949年，袁隆平考入大学，学习农学专业。考虑到他并非农村出身，这个选择不同寻常，并且父母双方都不赞成他的决定。

It is said that the inspiration behind choosing agriculture came partly from visiting a farm for a school excursion， and partly from an idyllic3 scene in Charlie Chaplin movie “Modern Times”， where the character named Little Tramp savours grapes and fresh milk at the doorstep of his home.

据说，袁隆平立志学农的背后有两个缘故，一是小学时学校组织郊游参观了一个园艺农场，二是卓别林电影《摩登时代》中一幕展现田园之乐的场景，片中人物“小流浪汉”在家门口随手摘葡萄吃、接牛奶喝。

After graduating in 1953， Mr. Yuan took a job as a teacher at an agricultural college in Hunan Province， keeping up his interest in crop genetics. His commitment to the field took on4 greater urgency from the late 1950s， when he became the witness of Chinese famine. “Famished， you would eat whatever there was to eat， even grass roots and tree bark，” Mr. Yuan recalled in his memoir. “At that time I became even more determined to solve the problem of how to increase food production so that ordinary people would not starve.”

1953年，袁隆平大学毕业后，去往湖南省的一所农校任教，继续钻研自己感兴趣的作物遗传学。而目睹了50年代末中国的大饥荒后，他对作物遗传学的研究变得更加紧迫了。“饿极了，有什么东西就吃什么东西，草根、树皮都吃。”袁隆平在他的自传中回忆道，“这时就更下了决心，一定要解决粮食增产问题，不让老百姓挨饿。”

Mr. Yuan soon settled on researching rice， the staple food for many Chinese people， searching for hybrid varieties that could boost yields and traveling to Beijing to immerse himself in scientific journals that were unavailable at his small college.

袁隆平很快选定了许多中国人的主食——水稻作为研究对象，他开始寻找能够提高产量的杂交品种，还前往北京，潜心阅读他工作的那所小型农校里接触不到的科学期刊。

Mr. Yuan chose to focus on rice production for two reasons： it was a popular grain with Chinese people， and rice was the main grain of half of the world’s population.

袁隆平专注于水稻增产有两个原因：水稻不仅是中国人民喜爱的粮食，并且也是世界半数人口的主粮。

Mr. Yuan found a solution in growing hybrid varieties of rice. Hybrid rice would be a mixture of wild rice， found near a rail line on Hainan Island in China， and commercial strains of rice.

袁隆平发现了一种培育杂交稻种的办法。他将自己在海南岛一条铁路附近找到的野生水稻与各种商业稻种进行杂交，从而培育出杂交水稻。

He was not the only person in the world to start working on hybrid rice. However， he was the one who provided the best paper in the technological aspect. And suddenly， all other participants’ papers that were covering hybrid rice just didn’t matter. After long research， 1974 marked a start of hybrid rice production in Hunan Province in China， under Mr. Yuan’s supervision， of course.

他并非世界上研究杂交水稻的唯一一人，却写出了技术层面上最为出色的论文。这篇论文一经发表，其余所有关于杂交水稻的文献顿时都黯然失色了。经过长期的研究，在1974年，中国湖南省开始了杂交水稻的试种，当然由袁隆平来指导这项工作。

Hybrid rice： solution that fed millions

哺育数百万人口的杂交水稻

Hybrid rice varieties typically produce 20 to 30 percent more rice per acre than nonhybrid strains when cultivated with the same transplant techniques， fertilizer and water. As Mr. Yuan and his ever-growing teams of rice experts introduced hybrid strains across Asia and Africa， they also taught farmers a wide range of advanced rice-growing techniques that produced further gains.

在移植技术、肥水条件都相同的情况下，杂交水稻的产量比非杂交品种通常每英亩要高出20%到30%。袁隆平与他日益扩大的专家团队在亚非地区推广杂交水稻的同时，还教给农民许多先进的水稻种植技术，从而进一步提高产量。

Soon， the inventions of Mr. Yuan helped solve the famine in countries like India， Liberia and Madagascar.

很快，袁隆平的成果帮助解决了印度、利比里亚、马达加斯加等国的饥荒问题。

Today， in China， the annual planting area of hybrid rice is 57% of total planting area of rice， helping to feed an extra of 80 million people a year. Mr Yuan’s work transformed China from a “food deficiency” country to a “food security” country.

在如今的中国，杂交水稻的年种植面积已达到水稻种植总面积的57%，每年能够多养活8000万人口。袁隆平的努力使中国从“粮食短缺”国家转变成为“粮食安全”国家。

Moreover， the work of Mr. Yuan was part of the “Green Revolution”—a series of inventions in agriculture and crops that transformed global food supplies. Both in China and worldwide， these inventions staved off5 warnings of overpopulation and mass famine in the 1960s and 1970s.

并且，袁隆平的研究也构成了“绿色革命”的一部分，这场革命通过农业和作物上的一系列发明彻底改变了全球的粮食供应格局。在中国及世界范围内，这些发明使得20世纪六七十年代关于人口过剩、大规模饥荒的预警免于成真。

“Chance favours the prepared mind”

“机遇偏爱有准备的人”

Xu Zhihong， a former president of Peking University and a longtime professor of life sciences there， said that Mr. Yuan’s underlying talent was always clear： He paid minute6 attention to rice plants and gOgWgfyz9tvxxIFS+LCiiA==how they grew.

曾担任北京大学校长并长期任北大生命科学教授的许智宏表示，袁隆平根本的才能一直都很明显，他对水稻及其生长方式有细致入微的观察。

“His personal interests were really very focused on rice， so every year he spent a lot of time in the field，” said Professor Xu， who had worked with Mr. Yuan on various national agriculture committees since 1980.

“他的个人兴趣的确高度集中在水稻上，每年他都把很多时间花在田间地头。”许智宏教授说道。自1980年以来，他与袁隆平曾在多个国家级的农业委员会共事。

Mr. Yuan was always a humble man， working tirelessly， until his last days. In one video message to Chinese students， he said that his experience can be summed up in four words： knowledge， sweat， inspiration and opportunity. He also said the famous quote by Louis Pasteur： “Chance favours the prepared mind”.

袁隆平始终为人谦逊，工作孜孜不倦，直到生命走到尽头。在拍给中国学子的一段视频中，他说自己的经验可以概括为四个词语：知识、汗水、灵感和机遇。他还引用了法国化学家路易·巴斯德的名言：“机遇偏爱有准备的人。”

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖者）

1 sweat and toil汗水与辛劳，比喻辛勤的劳动。

2 agronomy农学，农艺学。 3 idyllic田园诗般的，田园风光的。 4 take on sth开始具有（某种特征）；呈现。

5 stave off暂时挡住（坏事）。

6 minute细致入微的；详细的。