Yuan Longping, known as the “father of hybrid rice (杂交水稻之父)”, is one of China’s most famous scientists. Yet, he considered himself as a farmer because he continually worked the land in his research. Indeed, his slim but strong body was just like that of millions of Chinese farmers, to whom he devoted his life.
Yuan was born in 1930 in Beijing. His parents wanted him to pursue a career in science or medicine. However, what concerned him most was that farmers often had poor harvests and sometimes even had a serious shortage of food to eat. To tackle this crisis, he chose to study agriculture and received an education at Southwest Agricultural College in Chongqing.
After graduating from Southwest Agricultural College in 1953, he worked as a researcher. Yuan realized that larger fields were not the solution. Instead, farmers needed to boost yields (产量) in the fields they had. How this could be done was a challenging question at the time. Yuan was convinced that the answer could be found in the creation of hybrid rice. A hybrid is a cross between two or more varieties of species. One characteristic of hybrids is that they usually attain a higher yield than conventional crops. Through intense effort, Yuan overcame enormous technical difficulties to develop the first hybrid rice that could be used for farming in 1974. This hybrid enabled farmers to expand their output greatly.
Witnessing the development of hybrid rice, Yuan once said “I saw my super hybrid rice plant growing as high as sorghum (高粱). The panicle (head of rice) was as large as a broom, and the grains as big as peanuts. I was very happy to rest under them with my assistant.”
Today, it is estimated (估计) that about 60 percent of domestic (国内的) rice consumption in China is made up of crops produced from Yuan’s hybrid species and his species have allowed China’s farmers to produce around 200 million tons of rice per year.
【小题1】Why did Yuan Longping consider himself a farmer?| A．Having a figure like farmers. | B．Researching the land constantly. |
| C．Leading a life in the countryside. | D．Graduating from an agricultural college. |
| A．Sharpen. | B．Unearth. | C．Get rid of. | D．Give rise to. |
| A．Its higher yield. | B．Its creation process. |
| C．Its poor harvests. | D．Its varieties of species. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Unbearable. | C．Unspeakable. | D．Cautious. |
