In 1960 China suffered a serious shortage of food grains.

1960年，一场严重的粮食饥荒在中国大地上发生了。

In this dire situation, Yuan Longping (袁隆平 ), a graduate of the Southwest Agricultural College, found himself tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep. As a specialist in agriculture, a subject he had devoted his life to, wasn't this time of national food shortage the very time he was called upon to render service to his country and his people? 

面对严酷的现实，西南农学院毕业的袁隆平辗转反侧，不能安睡。自己毕业于农业专业，学来一身本领。这时候国家缺少粮食，不正是自己应该为国家、为人民效力的时候吗？

After a great deal of thought, Yuan came to the conclusion that a breakthrough had to be found in the quality of the crops: If a new type of crop could be raised that could increase the grain output by several times, that would be the solution to the problem. 

袁隆平想来想去，决定把突破口放在提高农作物的产量上。如果能够培育出新型的品种，让粮食产量比现在翻几番，问题就能大大解决了！

To create a new type of paddy rice required the cross-breeding of existing varieties. However, this would be difficult because paddy rice is self-pollinating. Time after time, Yuan's experiments produced ears of rice that were too costly, while the ideal solution would be rice stalks that would produce male sterile rice. 

要想培育出新型水稻，必须要让已有的水稻品种进行杂交。可水稻是自花授粉的作物，难以杂交。一朵一朵地处理水稻花成本实在太大，最理想的解决方案是培育出雄花不育的稻株。

Through concentrated research and study, Yuan Longping found that the correct gene would only result from seedlings planted in the existing paddy fields. So he personally trudged through the paddy fields searching for rice stalks that would produce male sterile rice. 

袁隆平经过严密的研究思考，认为这样的植株一定存在于现有的水稻田中，可能是基因突变的结果。于是他迈开了双腿走进水稻田，开始寻找世界上谁也没有见过的水稻雄性不育株……