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.”

中國古語有云：“民以食爲天。”

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

儘管美食向來都是中國文化的重要組成部分，但在上世紀70年代以前，饑荒曾一直是我國的一大問題。

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

而中國科學家袁隆平則致力於解決這一問題。

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家獲得我國2018未來科學大獎，以表彰其對水稻從未止步的研究。而在9月7日袁隆平88歲的生日當天，他還參加了在湖南省舉行的國際稻作發展論壇。儘管當時他大病初癒，但他很樂於與記者們談論自己關於“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”.

袁隆平在大學時代便展開了水稻研究。1964年，他找到了一株“天然雄性不育株”。從那時起，他便專注於培育高產的雜交水稻品種。據中國新聞網報道，這些品種如今佔我國水稻作物的2/3。所以，袁隆平被稱爲“雜交水稻之父”也就不足爲奇了。

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.

得益於我國“一帶一路”倡議，袁隆平的雜交水稻能幫助全球解決糧食問題。的確，據新華社報道，在肯尼亞種植的雜交水稻優良品種平均產量，是當地常規品種的4至5倍。

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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.

他的演講在網上引發轟動。開場時袁隆平表示“我的英語不好”，但這場20分鐘的演講卻取得了巨大成功，幾乎沒有停頓或者錯誤。

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.

袁隆平爲人謙遜，演講中只是自謙而已。據CNN1999年的一篇文章報道，這位科學家能說一口流利的英語和俄語。“我出國時從來不需要翻譯，”他在接受這家美國新聞媒體網站採訪時表示。

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.”

儘管袁隆平學識淵博，但他深知，就算是最聰明的人也應該對學習新事物抱有一種開放的心態。“我國農民的種稻經驗相當豐富，”他在接受新華社採訪時表示。“我們應當向他們學習。”