Every scientist has a childhood dream. A scientist in China once had a dream. He wished to grow a new type of rice. This new type of rice would be as big as peanuts (花生). This person is Yuan Longping—“Father” of hybrid rice (杂交水稻).

Yuan Longping was born in 1930. He graduated from the Southwest Agricultural University in 1953. He came up with an idea for hybrid rice in the 1960s. Since then, he has devoted himself to research and to the development of new varieties.

In 1973, together with other people, he succeeded in the development of hybrid rice. This made China a worldwide leader in rice production (生产). In 1980, the technology for hybrid rice was introduced to the United States. Now his “super rice” has been introduced to more than 20 other countries.

Because of Professor Yuan’s hard work, China now produces enough rice to feed her people every year. Last November an online survey showed that most Chinese believed that Yuan deserved (应得) a Nobel Prize.

In his spare time, Yuan Longping loves playing the violin and listening to music. Every night, he reads for half an hour before he goes to sleep. He likes swimming, too. 据说他是中国最富有的人之一。But he cares about nothing but his research.

根据文章内容完成下列各题：

16. What was Yuan Longping’s childhood dream?

17. What are Yuan Longping’s hobbies?

18. The underlined word “her” in the fourth paragraph means                      .

19. 把画线部分的汉语译成英语: __________________________________________

20. According to the following explanations of the word “variety” in a dictionary, the word “varieties” in 2nd paragraph probably means ________.

variety /və΄raiəti/ n. 1. 变化：give ~ to the program使节目丰富多彩 / His writing lacks ~. 他的文体缺乏变化。2. 种类：a choice ~ of black tea特级红茶 / varieties of cloth各种布匹 3. 种种：Iron has a variety of uses. 铁有种种用处。4.【生】变种；品种；【语】异体：a new variety of apples苹果的新品种

参考答案：

16. Growing a new type of rice. / He wished to grow a new type of rice.

17. Playing the violin, listening to music, reading books and swimming.

18. Chinese / China’s

19. It’s said that he is one of the richest people in China.

20. 品种 / 变种 / 4

责任编辑:yingyubao