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.

中國孩子們常吟誦一首唐詩，感謝農(nóng)民的辛勤勞作帶來盤中美餐。他們也應(yīng)當銘記農(nóng)業(yè)科學家、雜交水稻之父袁隆平的功績，他培育的高產(chǎn)水稻養(yǎng)活了數(shù)十億人。袁隆平于2021年5月22日離世，享年90歲。

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.

作為“綠色革命”的關(guān)鍵人物，袁隆平躋身于中國最為著名的科學家之列，還曾擔任位于長沙的國家雜交水稻工程技術(shù)研究中心的主任。2008年北京舉辦奧運會時，他還做過火炬手。

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產(chǎn)量，養(yǎng)活更多人口，這一事業(yè)可以追溯到20世紀中葉，中國的困難時期。

A man marked by famine

親歷饑饉歲月

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。母親華靜是英文教師，父親袁興烈原先也是教師，后來轉(zhuǎn)職到鐵路局工作。袁隆平常常提起母親為他們兄弟姐妹樹立的榜樣。在1930年代遭受日本侵占的中國，他還能接受一定水準的教育，這相當罕見。日本侵華時期實行嚴格的糧食配給制，因此可以說，袁隆平也許在童年時期便懷有了終結(jié)饑餒的抱負。

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，袁隆平考入大學，學習農(nóng)學專業(yè)。考慮到他并非農(nóng)村出身，這個選擇不同尋常，并且父母雙方都不贊成他的決定。

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.

據(jù)說，袁隆平立志學農(nóng)的背后有兩個緣故，一是小學時學校組織郊游參觀了一個園藝農(nóng)場，二是卓別林電影《摩登時代》中一幕展現(xiàn)田園之樂的場景，片中人物“小流浪漢”在家門口隨手摘葡萄吃、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，袁隆平大學畢業(yè)后，去往湖南省的一所農(nóng)校任教，繼續(xù)鉆研自己感興趣的作物遺傳學。而目睹了50年代末中國的大饑荒后，他對作物遺傳學的研究變得更加緊迫了。“餓極了，有什么東西就吃什么東西，草根、樹皮都吃。”袁隆平在他的自傳中回憶道，“這時就更下了決心，一定要解決糧食增產(chǎn)問題，不讓老百姓挨餓。”

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.

袁隆平很快選定了許多中國人的主食——水稻作為研究對象，他開始尋找能夠提高產(chǎn)量的雜交品種，還前往北京，潛心閱讀他工作的那所小型農(nóng)校里接觸不到的科學期刊。

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.

袁隆平專注于水稻增產(chǎn)有兩個原因：水稻不僅是中國人民喜愛的糧食，并且也是世界半數(shù)人口的主糧。

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.

袁隆平發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種培育雜交稻種的辦法。他將自己在海南島一條鐵路附近找到的野生水稻與各種商業(yè)稻種進行雜交，從而培育出雜交水稻。

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.

他并非世界上研究雜交水稻的唯一一人，卻寫出了技術(shù)層面上最為出色的論文。這篇論文一經(jīng)發(fā)表，其余所有關(guān)于雜交水稻的文獻頓時都黯然失色了。經(jīng)過長期的研究，在1974年，中國湖南省開始了雜交水稻的試種，當然由袁隆平來指導這項工作。

Hybrid rice： solution that fed millions

哺育數(shù)百萬人口的雜交水稻

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.

在移植技術(shù)、肥水條件都相同的情況下，雜交水稻的產(chǎn)量比非雜交品種通常每英畝要高出20%到30%。袁隆平與他日益擴大的專家團隊在亞非地區(qū)推廣雜交水稻的同時，還教給農(nóng)民許多先進的水稻種植技術(shù)，從而進一步提高產(chǎn)量。

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

很快，袁隆平的成果幫助解決了印度、利比里亞、馬達加斯加等國的饑荒問題。

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.

在如今的中國，雜交水稻的年種植面積已達到水稻種植總面積的57%，每年能夠多養(yǎng)活8000萬人口。袁隆平的努力使中國從“糧食短缺”國家轉(zhuǎn)變成為“糧食安全”國家。

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，袁隆平的研究也構(gòu)成了“綠色革命”的一部分，這場革命通過農(nóng)業(yè)和作物上的一系列發(fā)明徹底改變了全球的糧食供應(yīng)格局。在中國及世界范圍內(nèi)，這些發(fā)明使得20世紀六七十年代關(guān)于人口過剩、大規(guī)模饑荒的預警免于成真。

“Chance favours the prepared mind”

“機遇偏愛有準備的人”

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.

曾擔任北京大學校長并長期任北大生命科學教授的許智宏表示，袁隆平根本的才能一直都很明顯，他對水稻及其生長方式有細致入微的觀察。

“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.

“他的個人興趣的確高度集中在水稻上，每年他都把很多時間花在田間地頭。”許智宏教授說道。自1980年以來，他與袁隆平曾在多個國家級的農(nóng)業(yè)委員會共事。

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”.

袁隆平始終為人謙遜，工作孜孜不倦，直到生命走到盡頭。在拍給中國學子的一段視頻中，他說自己的經(jīng)驗可以概括為四個詞語：知識、汗水、靈感和機遇。他還引用了法國化學家路易·巴斯德的名言：“機遇偏愛有準備的人。”

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎?wù)撸?/p>

1 sweat and toil汗水與辛勞，比喻辛勤的勞動。

2 agronomy農(nóng)學，農(nóng)藝學。 3 idyllic田園詩般的，田園風光的。 4 take on sth開始具有（某種特征）；呈現(xiàn)。

5 stave off暫時擋住（壞事）。

6 minute細致入微的；詳細的。