01
A PIONEER FOR ALL PEOPLE
Although he is one of China’s most famous scientists.Yuan longping considers himself a farmer, for he works the land to do his research.Indeed, his sunburnt face and arms and his slim,strong body are just like those of millions of Chinese farmers, for Whom he has struggled for the past five decades. Yuan Longping grows what is called super hybrid rice.
In 1973,he became the first agricultural pioneer in the world to grow rice that has a high output. This special strain of rice makes it possible to produce 20% more of the crop in the same fields. Now more than 60% of the rice produced in China each year is from his hybrid strain.
Born in 1930,Yuan Longping graduated from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953. Since then, finding ways to grow more rice has been his life goal. As a young man,he saw the great need for increasing the rice output. At that time,hunger was a disturbing problem in many parts of the countryside.
Yuan Longping searched for a way to increase rice harvests without expanding the area of the fields. In 1950, Chinese farmers could produce about fifty-six millions tons of rice. In recent harvest,however,nearly two hundred million tons of rice was produced. These increased harvests mean that 22% of the world’s people are fed from just 7%of the farmland in the world. Yuan Longping is now circulating his knowledge in India, Vietnam and many other less developed countries to increase their rice harvests. Thanks to his research, the UN has more tools in the battle to rid the world of hunger. Using his hybrid rice,farmers are producing harvests twice as large as before.
Yuan Longping is quite satisfied with his life.However,he doesn’t care about being famous. He feels it gives him less freedom to do his research. He would much rather keep time for his hobbies. He enjoys listening to violin music, playing mah-jong,swimming and reading. Spending money on himself or leading a comfortable life also means very little to him. Indeed,he believes that a person with too much money has more rather than fewer troubles. He therefore gives millions of yuan to equip others for their research in agriculture.
Just dreaming for things, however, costs nothing. Long ago Yuan Longping had a dream about rice plants as tall as sorghum. Each ear of rice was as big as an ear of corn and each grain of rice was as huge as a peanut. He awoke from his dream with the hope of producing a kind of rice that could feed more people.Now, many years later, Yuan Longping has another dream: to export his rice so that it can be grown around the globe. One dream is not always enough, especially for a person who loves and cares for his people.
——文章摘录于高中牛津教材
02
1930年初秋，在北平的一家医院里，有个小男孩出生了。父亲给他取名袁隆平。
小时候的袁隆平很调皮，充满好奇心。他喜欢追根究底，总能提出些让老师都不知道怎么回答的问题，老师常常说：“袁隆平，你别胡思乱想！”好奇的袁隆平才不听呢！没有答案，那就去自己寻找答案吧。
6岁那年，袁隆平和同学们去参加了一个非常美的园艺园。金黄的梨子挂满枝头，紫红的葡萄垂在架子上，四处开满了鲜花。这个美丽的园艺场在袁隆平心中种下一个田园梦，从那时起，他就特别喜欢大自然，盼着长大以后能去学农。
长大以后，袁隆平圆了小时候的学农梦。
1953年8月，他从农学院毕业，来到湖南一所偏远的农校工作。在这里，他不光教书，还带学生们做实验，为了帮农民提高粮食产量，他们研究红薯和南瓜。有一回，竟然种出了一个超级大红薯。
1959-1961年是困难时期，全国闹饥荒。袁隆平也挨了不少饿，靠吃野菜、树皮活命，由于营养不良，还得了水肿病。看着人们挨饿，袁隆平非常难过。他下定决心要让人们吃饱饭。
水稻、小麦、玉米、大豆、土豆是世界上五大主要粮食作物。当时，只有水稻在培育优质、高产的品种上停滞不前。而南方又主要以水稻为主食，急需提高水稻产量。袁隆平想啊想，满脑子都是高产水稻。有一天晚上，他想着想着，就进入了梦乡。他梦见，水稻长得像高粱那么高，颗粒像花生那么大，他和朋友们坐在稻穗下乘凉......
这个美好的“禾下乘凉梦”给了袁隆平很大的鼓励。为了水稻增产，袁隆平不停地查资料、搞水稻直播试验。他还去向农民请教，当听说他们要翻身跃岭去别的村庄换稻种时，他十分好奇：“为什么要换种子呀？”农民说：“多施肥不如勤换种，这是老祖宗留下来的经验呀！袁老师，你要是能帮我们培育高产种子，那该多好呀！”袁隆平立刻意识到了农民们的迫切需求，那就是高产的水稻种子，他找到了努力的方向。
水稻是自花授粉的农作物，不需要外来的花粉，自己就能授精、结实。可是，该到哪里去寻找高产种子呢？只能向大自然这个神奇宝库求助。袁隆平不顾风吹日晒，常常只带点馒头和水，蹲在稻田里寻找长势特别好的水稻。一天、两天过去了，一星期、半个月过去了......袁隆平一无所获，可他不会轻易放弃。
终于，在观察了上万株水稻后。1961年7月的一天，袁隆平终于发现了一株长得特别好的水稻。他和助手惊喜地数来数去，枝稻穗上共有230粒稻谷！他高兴极了，给它取名“鹤立鸡群”，不住地夸：“真是个好妈妈呀！”
第二年，袁隆平满怀期待地撤下了“鹤立鸡群”的种子，种了1000多株。他认真观察、施肥、除草，天天盼着丰收。收获的季节到了，可稻株们的表现很不好。瞧！高的高，矮的矮，粗的粗，细的细，没有一株赶得上它们的妈妈。袁隆平很失望，他反复琢磨，“这到底是为什么呢？”
袁隆平一直不停地想啊想，反复地查资料。每天都去稻田里仔细观察，想弄明白到底是怎么回事。直到有一天，灵感突然来了，他意识到那株“鹤立鸡群”，是有杂种优势的天然杂交水稻。所有它的后代才会出现如此显著的性状分离。“大自然中出现天然杂交水稻很偶然，但我可以研究人工杂交水稻！”想到这里，袁隆平高兴地跳了起来，他要揭开杂交水稻的奥秘。
既然大自然中存在天然杂交水稻，那就一定存在天然“雄性败育”株。只要找到它，就能解决水稻杂种优势利用的难题。袁隆平和妻子、助手，不管高温酷暑，不怕刮风下雨。在茫茫稻田里一株一株地观察。这个不是，那个不对，在观察了14万株水稻后，他们终于找到了第一株天然雄性败育株。但太少了，不够做试验，他们只能继续找。在第三个年头，终于找到了6株天然雄性败育株。
越往南走，气温越高，水稻生长越快。为了加快研究速度，袁隆平和助手们在湖南、广东、海南等地不停往返。他们曾遭遇了很多困难，试验田的秧苗曾被人恶意拔光。地震和洪水差点毁了秧苗，反对杂交水稻研究的声音不时传来，好几年过去了，他们仍没有成功。
多年的失败让袁隆平逐渐意识到，他们用来做研究的水稻都是人工栽培水稻。近亲联姻，后代不好，他们决定去荒野里寻找天然雄性败育野生稻进行杂交研究。又是漫长的寻觅过程，直到1970年10月，在海南的一处荒野里，袁隆平的助手等人终于找到了1株天然雄性败育野生稻，身在北京的袁隆平飞一般地赶回海南，进行研究。
后来，这株野生稻被取名为“野败”，它成为了杂交水稻的好妈妈。
1973年，杂交水稻研究终于成功了。
杂交水稻成功地提高了水稻的产量，它解决了很多人吃不饱饭的问题。今天，杂交水稻的产量仍在不断提高，人们把杂交水稻称为“东方魔稻”，把袁隆平称为“杂交水稻之父”，全世界的人们都感激袁隆平。
这个一生从未停下脚步的老人，从来没忘记年轻时，那个美丽的“禾下乘凉梦”，为了这个梦，他仍在稻田里奔波...
——节选自一粒种子改变世界·袁隆平的故事
袁老，一路走好，用我的方式，为您送别。
