致敬“雜交水稻之父”袁隆平

As the old Chinese saying goes, “Humanity’s most fundamental relationship is with what we eat.”

中國(guó)古語(yǔ)有云：“民以食為天。”

Although food has played an important part in Chinese culture for years, hunger had been a huge problem in the country until the 1970s.

盡管美食向來(lái)都是中國(guó)文化的重要組成部分，但在上世紀(jì)70年代以前，饑荒曾一直是我國(guó)的一大問(wèn)題。

However, the Chinese scientist Yuan Longping helped to fix this problem.

而中國(guó)科學(xué)家袁隆平則致力于解決這一問(wèn)題。

On Sept 8, Yuan, together with two other scientists, won China’s 2018 Future Science Prize, for his continuous research on rice. Even on his 88th birthday on Sept 7, he took part in the International Development Forum of Rice Production in Hunan province. Although he was recovering from an illness at the time, he was happy to talk to reporters about his latest work with seawater rice.

9月8日，袁隆平與另外兩名科學(xué)家獲得我國(guó)2018未來(lái)科學(xué)大獎(jiǎng)，以表彰其對(duì)水稻從未止步的研究。而在9月7日袁隆平88歲的生日當(dāng)天，他還參加了在湖南省舉行的國(guó)際稻作發(fā)展論壇。盡管當(dāng)時(shí)他大病初愈，但他很樂(lè)于與記者們談?wù)撟约宏P(guān)于“海水稻”的最新成果。

Yuan has been conducting research on rice since he was at college. In 1964, he discovered a natural hybrid rice plant. Since then, he has focused on developing high-yield, hybrid rice varieties. These varieties now account for about two thirds of China’s rice crop, according to China News. So, it’s no wonder that he’s known as the “Father of Hybrid Rice”.

袁隆平在大學(xué)時(shí)代便展開了水稻研究。1964年，他找到了一株“天然雄性不育株”。從那時(shí)起，他便專注于培育高產(chǎn)的雜交水稻品種。據(jù)中國(guó)新聞網(wǎng)報(bào)道，這些品種如今占我國(guó)水稻作物的2/3。所以，袁隆平被稱為“雜交水稻之父”也就不足為奇了。

And thanks to China’s Belt and Road initiative, Yuan’s hybrid rice is helping to solve food problems around the world. Indeed, according to Xinhua News Agency, hybrid rice plants in Kenya produce four to five times more rice than the country’s regular rice plants.

得益于我國(guó)“一帶一路”倡議，袁隆平的雜交水稻能幫助全球解決糧食問(wèn)題。的確，據(jù)新華社報(bào)道，在肯尼亞種植的雜交水稻優(yōu)良品種平均產(chǎn)量，是當(dāng)?shù)爻Ｒ?guī)品種的4至5倍。

With a rising reputation around the world, Yuan delivered a speech in English at the 9th Shandong High-Level Talents Forum in Qingdao last year.

去年，國(guó)際名望不斷提高的袁隆平在青島舉行的第九屆山東高層次人才論壇上做了一次英文演講。

His speech made him an internet sensation. Beginning with “I speak broken English”, his 20-minute speech turned out to be a huge success, with barely any pauses or mistakes.

他的演講在網(wǎng)上引發(fā)轟動(dòng)。開場(chǎng)時(shí)袁隆平表示“我的英語(yǔ)不好”，但這場(chǎng)20分鐘的演講卻取得了巨大成功，幾乎沒(méi)有停頓或者錯(cuò)誤。

The humble Yuan was simply being modest during his speech. According to a 1999 article by CNN, the scientist speaks both English and Russian fluently. “I never need an interpreter when I go overseas,” he told the US news network.

袁隆平為人謙遜，演講中只是自謙而已。據(jù)CNN1999年的一篇文章報(bào)道，這位科學(xué)家能說(shuō)一口流利的英語(yǔ)和俄語(yǔ)。“我出國(guó)時(shí)從來(lái)不需要翻譯，”他在接受這家美國(guó)新聞媒體網(wǎng)站采訪時(shí)表示。

But in spite of his great knowledge, Yuan understands that even the wisest of people should still be open to learning new things. “The farmers of our country possess rich experience in planting rice,” he told Xinhua. “We should learn from them.”

盡管袁隆平學(xué)識(shí)淵博，但他深知，就算是最聰明的人也應(yīng)該對(duì)學(xué)習(xí)新事物抱有一種開放的心態(tài)。“我國(guó)農(nóng)民的種稻經(jīng)驗(yàn)相當(dāng)豐富，”他在接受新華社采訪時(shí)表示。“我們應(yīng)當(dāng)向他們學(xué)習(xí)。”