A Pioneer for all People

Though he was one of China’s most famous scientists, Yuan Longping considered himself a farmer, because he worked the land to do his research.

Known as “Father of Hybrid Rice (杂交水稻)”, Dr. Yuan graduated from Southwest Agricultural (农业的) College in 1953. From then on, finding ways to grow more rice was his life goal. As a young man, he saw the great need for rice. At that time, hunger was a serious problem in many parts of the countryside. Dr. Yuan searched for a way to get more rice with the same size of the fields. In 1974, he became an agricultural pioneer in the world to grow rice that has high production and that is called super hybrid rice. In the 1980s, he went around the world and gave advice about growing rice to farmers in other countries. In 2004, he won the World Food Prize for his work.

Dr. Yuan was quite satisfied with his life. He would much rather keep time for his hobbies. He enjoyed playing the violin, swimming and reading. And he gave millions of yuan to some researchers to help them with research in farming.

Long ago Dr. Yuan had a dream about rice plants as tall as sorghum (高粱). With his hard work, he grew the rice that could feed more people. President Xi Jinping praised him for his great contributions (贡献) to China’s food safety and world corn development.

Where does your food come from? How is it made? These days, many people worry about food safety. But food safety is not a new worry. In 1906, Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle. The book is the story of a poor family in Chicago. It is also about the dangerous ways that food was prepared. People were so worried that the U.S. started testing food.

These days,most food in the world is safe. Laws control(法律控制）where food comes from.

They also control how food is managed and prepared. Laws are important. But it’s more important to make sure people follow the rules . A good food safety system（系统）keeps people safe. It also helps them eat healthy food. Labels（标签）on food give people important information. Then they can make good choices about their food.

Although food safety systems usually work, there can be problems. Sometimes mistakes are made. For example, a truck might carry eggs and then ice cream. The ice cream could make people sick when the truck isn’t cleaned after carrying eggs. Other problems are not mistakes. Sometimes companies break rules to make more money. When this happens,people don’t know if their food is safe.

As we all know，food is closely related（和……有关联）to our daily life. We should take actions to make food safer!

Keisuke Inagaki is a cook in Japan. He is good at creating special pancake art (煎饼艺术).

Years ago, Keisuke Inagaki volunteered (自愿做) for a program to take care of young children in his home city after a tsunami (海啸). He looked for ways to make the children happy. One day, he saw the pancake art of Nathan Shields on the Internet. After that, he became interested in the pancake art. Now he’s still making pancake artworks in his restaurant.

Keisuke Inagaki usually draws animals and cartoon characters on his pancakes. How does the talented artist make his pancakes? He first draws the outline (轮廓) of his artwork with the batter (面糊). Then he cooks it for a few seconds and adds more batter. He can finish a simple pancake artwork in just 5 minutes, but it usually takes him over 30 minutes to finish a difficult one.

People need to order his pancakes at least three weeks early because he only makes two pancakes a day. Keisuke Inagaki spends most of his time thinking about how to make better pancakes.