"Pear in the Melon Field" "Grandma Melon":Dedicate the Sweetness of Melons to the People “瓜田明珠”“瓜奶奶”：把瓜的甘甜献给人民

熊艳婷

中國农民丰收节当天，在袁隆平母校西南大学，不少学生来到袁老手捧稻穗的雕像前，献花悼念：“在稻香满穗时来看您，您一定很欣慰。”“谨记您的教诲，实现您的禾下乘凉梦。”在这个特殊的日子里，还有一位为中国农业奉献了一辈子的奶奶，冲上微博热搜。享有“吃瓜自由”的我们一起来认识一下这位已经91岁高龄的“瓜奶奶”吴明珠吧。

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."

參考译文：

2021年9月23日是第四届中国农民丰收节，学生们纷纷悼念“杂交水稻之父”袁隆平。在这个特殊的日子里，还有一位为中国农业奉献了一辈子的奶奶冲上微博热搜，她就是91岁高龄的“瓜奶奶”吴明珠。也许，大多数人并不熟悉这个名字，但是她的贡献，却超乎了我们的想象。吴明珠是中国工程院的甜瓜专家，这位91岁的老人穷尽一生心血在中国培育出了30多个品种的西瓜，使优质的西甜瓜“家族”不断扩大，并在全国“开枝散叶”。可以说，我们如今能吃到香甜的瓜，都离不开这位“瓜奶奶”。

吴明珠出生于武汉，1953年从西南农学院（西南大学前身之一）园艺系果蔬专业毕业，与袁隆平是同级校友。1955年，吴明珠主动申请到中国西北部的新疆维吾尔自治区去研究瓜的种植与培育等工作。新疆的工作条件十分艰苦，吴明珠和同事们花了3年时间，走遍当地300多个生产队，鉴定出44个甜西瓜品种。吴明珠经多方考察，认定吐哈盆地是培育瓜种的好地方。1956年8月，她又向组织报告，申请调往距乌鲁木齐近300公里的善县农业技术推广站。从此，她迈开了培育瓜种的第一步，并在这条路上一走就是50多年。除了新疆的西北部，吴明珠的“种瓜”足迹还到了海南。1973年，吴明珠与队友在海南开辟“南繁北育”基地，新疆的春天可以种两代瓜，而海南的冬天可以种四代瓜，这大大增加了种籽繁殖的机会。

20世纪90年代，她和她的团队在中国东部的江苏省和浙江省成功地培育出优质西瓜“8424”，然后逐渐将品种推广到北方。一份2018年的数据显示，凭借200万公顷的西瓜种植面积，以及年产值超2万亿元，中国西瓜在产量和消费量位居世界第一。可以说，吴明珠用了半个多世纪的光阴，穷尽一生心血选育瓜种，构建起我国领先的西甜瓜育种技术平台。

2010年，81岁的她被诊断出阿尔茨海默症。但即使是生病期间，她还是关心瓜种培育过程，或者关心其他瓜授粉。如今，91岁的吴奶奶罹患阿尔茨海默症10年，已经认不出子女，但一提到瓜，眼神立刻就亮了，还会经常说“要去瓜地”“瓜要授粉了”这样的话……当她吃了医务人员为她端来的西瓜，记忆瞬间被唤醒。她依然还惦记着一装子都放不下的瓜，把瓜的甘甜献给人民。

从风华正茂到耄耋老人，吴明珠一辈子只为一件事。正如1999年当选为中国工程院院士的她，作为“全国十大杰出技术人才”之一，在北京人民大会堂做的这段感人肺腑的发言所说：“从梳着两条辫子的大姑娘开始，我在新疆的戈壁滩上，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。人们说，我心里只有瓜，瓜是我的孩子……是啊，瓜是我的生命，我的人生就是想结几个瓜，把瓜的甘甜献给人民。”

（摘自《21世纪英文报》）