Although May 24 was a working day, thousands of people wearing black went to the Mingyangshan Funeral Home in Hunan province for a funeral service at 10 am to present bouquets and bunches of rice plants to honor Yuan Longping.
5月24日，盡管這天是工作日，仍有成千上萬的人來到湖南省明陽山殯儀館，參加當(dāng)天上午10點(diǎn)舉行的袁隆平遺體送別儀式，人們身著黑衣，紛紛獻(xiàn)上鮮花和稻穗以示悼念。

The top rice scientist, dubbed the “father of hybrid rice”, died of organ failure at age 91 on May 22.
我國頂尖的水稻科學(xué)家，被稱為“雜交水稻之父”的袁隆平，因多器官功能衰竭，于2021年5月22日逝世，享年91歲。

Born in 1930 in Beijing, and raised in an era of war and famine, Yuan witnessed the despair of people who lost the land they lived on.
袁隆平1930年出生于北京，成長在一個戰(zhàn)爭和饑荒年代，他親眼看到人們失去賴以生存土地時的絕望。

So when he applied for university, he decided to study agriculture. But his parents worried such work would be tough and exhausting. However, Yuan said: “Having enough food was people’s [utmost] priority,” noted People’s Daily.
據(jù)《人民日報(bào)》報(bào)道，袁隆平報(bào)考大學(xué)時，決定學(xué)習(xí)農(nóng)業(yè)，他的父母卻擔(dān)心這樣的工作可能會又苦又累，然而袁隆平堅(jiān)持道：“吃飯是天下第一樁大事。”

Yuan set out to solve the problem. He began researching hybrid rice in 1964, succeeding in cultivating the world’s first high-yielding hybrid rice strain in 1973. He continued to work in this field and made new breakthroughs. In 2017, the average output of hybrid rice per hectare in China reached 7.5 tons, while globally it was 4.61 tons.
袁隆平開始攻克人們吃不飽飯的難題。1964年，他開創(chuàng)雜交水稻研究，1973年成功培育出世界上第一個高產(chǎn)的雜交水稻品種。他繼續(xù)在這一領(lǐng)域深耕并獲得了新的突破，2017年，我國雜交水稻平均產(chǎn)量達(dá)到每公頃7.5噸，而當(dāng)時在全球，水稻平均每公頃產(chǎn)量僅4.61噸。

More importantly, he was selfless when it came to sharing his research to benefit people globally. To date, his hybrid rice strain has been planted in large areas of India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, the US and Brazil. Hybrid rice seeds are being cultivated on 4.5 million hectares of land in Asian rice-producing countries, excluding China.
更重要的是，袁隆平無私地分享自己的研究成果，以造福全人類。迄今為止，他的雜交水稻品種已經(jīng)在印度、孟加拉國、印度尼西亞、越南、美國、巴西等地大面積種植。目前，在除中國外的其他亞洲水稻種植國家中，共有450萬公頃的土地正種植著雜交水稻。

“Professor Yuan was incredibly humble, never seeking fame or adulation, instead focusing only on hard work and results that could help eradicate poverty and lift people out of hunger,” Kenneth M. Quinn, president emeritus of the World Food Prize Foundation, told China Daily.
“袁教授十分謙虛，從不追求名譽(yù)和贊美，一心撲在艱苦的工作上，只為消除貧困，讓人們擺脫饑餓?！笔澜缂Z食獎基金會榮譽(yù)主席肯尼思· 奎因（Kenneth M. Quinn）告訴《中國日報(bào)》。

Yuan could make such achievements partly because he believed in the power of science as a harvest multiplier, noted People’s Daily.
據(jù)《人民日報(bào)》報(bào)道，袁隆平之所以能取得這樣的成就，部分原因是他相信科學(xué)的力量能讓豐收成倍增加。

Using research and trials at his national center, Yuan continued to produce increasingly higher-yielding super-hybrid plants, with panicles so full of grain that they bent, giving the appearance of a “waterfall of rice”. To observe his plants closely, Yuan spent more time in a field than in an office, just as farmers did. Quinn said the scientist maintained a “down-to-earth” attitude.
通過在研究中心（國家雜交水稻工程技術(shù)研究中心）進(jìn)行的各種研究與試驗(yàn)，袁隆平不斷研究出更高產(chǎn)量的超級水稻，這種超級稻有著谷粒飽滿的稻穗，像瀑布一樣彎垂下來，就像“瀑布水稻”一樣。為了時刻密切觀察農(nóng)作物，他在農(nóng)田里呆的時間總是比在辦公室里多，就像一位普通農(nóng)民一樣?？蛘f袁教授始終保持著“腳踏實(shí)地”的態(tài)度。

The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs mourned his passing on Twitter, saying, “Yuan passed away today at 91 but his legacy and his mission to end hunger lives on.”
聯(lián)合國經(jīng)濟(jì)和社會事務(wù)部在推特上發(fā)文悼念袁隆平，“盡管91歲的袁隆平離開了，但他所留下的遺產(chǎn)及終結(jié)饑餓的使命將持續(xù)下去。”

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請見《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高二834期