熊艷婷

中國農民豐收節(jié)當天，在袁隆平母校西南大學，不少學生來到袁老手捧稻穗的雕像前，獻花悼念：“在稻香滿穗時來看您，您一定很欣慰。”“謹記您的教誨，實現您的禾下乘涼夢?！痹谶@個特殊的日子里，還有一位為中國農業(yè)奉獻了一輩子的奶奶，沖上微博熱搜。享有“吃瓜自由”的我們一起來認識一下這位已經91歲高齡的“瓜奶奶”吳明珠吧。

September 23th marks the fourthChinese Farmers' 1）Harvest Festival.Students 2）honored the memory of thebeloved "father of hybrid rice." On thisspecial day， there is also a grandmotherwho has devoted her whole life to Chineseagriculture， gettirrg a lot of attention onWeibo. She is the 91-year-old “Grandma Melon" Wu Mingzhu. Perhaps， most people arenot familiar with the name， but her contribution is beyond our imagination. Wu Mingzhuis a melon expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering. This 91-year-old has devotedher life to 3）cultivating more than 30 4）varieties of fruit in China， expanding the high-quality melon "family" and "spreading its branches and leaves" across the country. It canbe said that now we can eat sweet melons mostly because of this "Grandma Melon".

Born in Wuhan， Wu graduated from the Department of Horticulture and FruitScience of Southwest University in 1953， an 5lalumnus of Yuan Longping. In 1955，she volunteered to research melons in northwest China's Xinjiang 6）Uygur AutonomousRegion， where working conditions were7）tough at the time. We and her colleaguesspent three years visiting over 300 productionteams throughout the region， identifying 44melon varieties. Wu 8）inspected in manyways and concluded that the Turpan-Hami9）Basin is a good place to cultivate melonseeds. In August 1956， she reported tothe organization and applied for transfer toShanshan County Agricultural TechnologyPromotion Station， which is nearly 300kilometers away from Urumqi. Since then，she has taken th first step in cultivatingmelon seeds， and has been on this road formore than 50 years. In addition to northwestXinjiang， Wu Mingzhu also went to Hainan.In 1973， Wu Mingzhu and her teammatesset up a base in Hainan. Xinjiang can growtwo generations of melons in spring and fourgenerations in Hainan in winter， thus greatlyincreasing the chances of breeding melonseeds.

In the 1990s， she and her team developed "8424"， a high-quality watermelon in eastChina's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces and gradually 10）extended the variety to northernareas of China. A 2018 data shows， with about 2 million 1hectares of watermelons and12）annual production worth more than 2 trillion yuan （about $290.8 million）， China rankedfirst in the world in the production and 13）consumption of this juicy fruit in 2018. It canbe said that Wu Mingzhu spent more than half a century making 14）painstaking efforts toselect melon seeds， and built China's leading watermelon breeding technology platform.

At the age of 81， she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010. But， even amid theillness， she also ask about the breeding process of her beloved melons or remind othersto 15）pollinate them. Today， even though the 91-year-old Granny Wu has been sufferingfrom Alzheimer's disease for 10 years and can no longer recognize her children， hereyes light up at the mention of melons， and she often says things like "going to melonland" and "melon is going to pollinate". When she ate the watermelon that the medicalstaff brought for her， the memory was instantly 16）awakened. She is still thinking aboutthe melons that she can't put down all her life： to "dedicate the sweetness of melons tothe people".

From the 17）prime of life to an18）nonagenarian， Wu Mingzhu onlydid one thing in her life. As she waselected as an 19academician of theChinese Academy of Engineeringin 1999， as one of the "top tenoutstanding technical talents in thecountry"， she said at the Great Hallof the People in Beijing， "Starting with a big girl with two braids， I cultivate watermelonsand cantaloupes on the Desert in Xinjiang. To this day， I am an old lady in twilight years.Melon shed is my home all the year round. People say I only have melons in my heartand melons are my children. Yes， mel ns are my life， and my life is to bear severalmelons and dedicate the sweetness of melons to the people."

參考譯文：

2021年9月23日是第四屆中國農民豐收節(jié)，學生們紛紛悼念“雜交水稻之父”袁隆平。在這個特殊的日子里，還有一位為中國農業(yè)奉獻了一輩子的奶奶沖上微博熱搜，她就是91歲高齡的“瓜奶奶”吳明珠。也許，大多數人并不熟悉這個名字，但是她的貢獻，卻超乎了我們的想象。吳明珠是中國工程院的甜瓜專家，這位91歲的老人窮盡一生心血在中國培育出了30多個品種的西瓜，使優(yōu)質的西甜瓜“家族”不斷擴大，并在全國“開枝散葉”?？梢哉f，我們如今能吃到香甜的瓜，都離不開這位“瓜奶奶”。

吳明珠出生于武漢，1953年從西南農學院（西南大學前身之一）園藝系果蔬專業(yè)畢業(yè)，與袁隆平是同級校友。1955年，吳明珠主動申請到中國西北部的新疆維吾爾自治區(qū)去研究瓜的種植與培育等工作。新疆的工作條件十分艱苦，吳明珠和同事們花了3年時間，走遍當地300多個生產隊，鑒定出44個甜西瓜品種。吳明珠經多方考察，認定吐哈盆地是培育瓜種的好地方。1956年8月，她又向組織報告，申請調往距烏魯木齊近300公里的善縣農業(yè)技術推廣站。從此，她邁開了培育瓜種的第一步，并在這條路上一走就是50多年。除了新疆的西北部，吳明珠的“種瓜”足跡還到了海南。1973年，吳明珠與隊友在海南開辟“南繁北育”基地，新疆的春天可以種兩代瓜，而海南的冬天可以種四代瓜，這大大增加了種籽繁殖的機會。

20世紀90年代，她和她的團隊在中國東部的江蘇省和浙江省成功地培育出優(yōu)質西瓜“8424”，然后逐漸將品種推廣到北方。一份2018年的數據顯示，憑借200萬公頃的西瓜種植面積，以及年產值超2萬億元，中國西瓜在產量和消費量位居世界第一?？梢哉f，吳明珠用了半個多世紀的光陰，窮盡一生心血選育瓜種，構建起我國領先的西甜瓜育種技術平臺。

2010年，81歲的她被診斷出阿爾茨海默癥。但即使是生病期間，她還是關心瓜種培育過程，或者關心其他瓜授粉。如今，91歲的吳奶奶罹患阿爾茨海默癥10年，已經認不出子女，但一提到瓜，眼神立刻就亮了，還會經常說“要去瓜地”“瓜要授粉了”這樣的話……當她吃了醫(yī)務人員為她端來的西瓜，記憶瞬間被喚醒。她依然還惦記著一裝子都放不下的瓜，把瓜的甘甜獻給人民。

從風華正茂到耄耋老人，吳明珠一輩子只為一件事。正如1999年當選為中國工程院院士的她，作為“全國十大杰出技術人才”之一，在北京人民大會堂做的這段感人肺腑的發(fā)言所說：“從梳著兩條辮子的大姑娘開始，我在新疆的戈壁灘上，培育西瓜和哈密瓜……直到今天，已是年近古稀的老太太。一年四季，瓜棚就是我的家。人們說，我心里只有瓜，瓜是我的孩子……是啊，瓜是我的生命，我的人生就是想結幾個瓜，把瓜的甘甜獻給人民。”

（摘自《21世紀英文報》）