Yuan Longping works to cultivate hybrid rice in Hainan. VCG
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，尽管这天是工作日，仍有成千上万的人来到湖南省明阳山殡仪馆，参加当天上午10点举行的袁隆平遗体送别仪式，人们身着黑衣，纷纷献上鲜花和稻穗以示悼念。
The top rice scientist, dubbed the “father of hybrid rice”, died of organ failure at age 91 on May 22.
我国顶尖的水稻科学家，被称为“杂交水稻之父”的袁隆平，因多器官功能衰竭，于2021年5月22日逝世，享年91岁。
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，成长在一个战争和饥荒年代，他亲眼看到人们失去赖以生存土地时的绝望。
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.
据《人民日报》报道，袁隆平报考大学时，决定学习农业，他的父母却担心这样的工作可能会又苦又累，然而袁隆平坚持道：“吃饭是天下第一桩大事。”
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.
袁隆平开始攻克人们吃不饱饭的难题。1964年，他开创杂交水稻研究，1973年成功培育出世界上第一个高产的杂交水稻品种。他继续在这一领域深耕并获得了新的突破，2017年，我国杂交水稻平均产量达到每公顷7.5吨，而当时在全球，水稻平均每公顷产量仅4.61吨。
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，袁隆平无私地分享自己的研究成果，以造福全人类。迄今为止，他的杂交水稻品种已经在印度、孟加拉国、印度尼西亚、越南、美国、巴西等地大面积种植。目前，在除中国外的其他亚洲水稻种植国家中，共有450万公顷的土地正种植着杂交水稻。
“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.
“袁教授十分谦虚，从不追求名誉和赞美，一心扑在艰苦的工作上，只为消除贫困，让人们摆脱饥饿。”世界粮食奖基金会荣誉主席肯尼思· 奎因（Kenneth M. Quinn）告诉《中国日报》。
Yuan could make such achievements partly because he believed in the power of science as a harvest multiplier, noted People’s Daily.
据《人民日报》报道，袁隆平之所以能取得这样的成就，部分原因是他相信科学的力量能让丰收成倍增加。
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.
通过在研究中心（国家杂交水稻工程技术研究中心）进行的各种研究与试验，袁隆平不断研究出更高产量的超级水稻，这种超级稻有着谷粒饱满的稻穗，像瀑布一样弯垂下来，就像“瀑布水稻”一样。为了时刻密切观察农作物，他在农田里呆的时间总是比在办公室里多，就像一位普通农民一样。奎因说袁教授始终保持着“脚踏实地”的态度。
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.”
联合国经济和社会事务部在推特上发文悼念袁隆平，“尽管91岁的袁隆平离开了，但他所留下的遗产及终结饥饿的使命将持续下去。”
