【導讀】ididnotknowtheansweruntiloneeveningwhenIsatdownattheputertodosomeresearchongreatwomenofChina.BychanceIcameacrossanarticleaboutadoctorcalledLinQiaozhi,aspecalistinwomen’sdiseases.Shelivedfrom1901to1983.Itseemedthatshehadbeenverybusyinherchosencareer,travlingaboredtostudyaswelaswritingbooksandarticlneofthemcaughtmyeye.Itwasasmalbookexplaininghowtokeepingbabiesclean,healthyandfreefromsickness.Whydidshewritethat?

　　

【正文】 calist in women’s diseases. She lived from 1901 to 1983 . It seemed that she had been very busy in her chosen career , travl i ng abored to study as wel as wri ti ng books and arti cl ne of them caught m y eye. It was a smal book expl aini ng how to keepi ng babi es cl ean, heal thy and free from si ckness. Why di d she write that?Who were the wom en that Li n Qi aozhi thought needed thi s advi ce?I l oked careful l y at the text and real i ze that i t was i ntended for wom en i n the countrysi de. Perhaps i f they had an em ergency they coul d not reach a doctor. Suddenl y it hit me how difficult it was for a woman to get medical training ata that time. That was a generation when girls’ education was always placred decond to boys’. Was she so much cl everer than anyone el se?Further readi ng made m e reali ze that it was hard work and determ i nati on as wel as her gentl e nature that got her into m edi cal school. What m ade her succeed l ater on was the ki ndness and consi derati on she showed to al her patiens. There was story after story of how Lin Qiaozhi, tired after a day’s work,went late at night to deliver a baby for a pool fam il y who coul d not pay her. By now I coul d not wai t to fi nd out m ore about her . I discovered that Li n Qiaozhi had devoted her whol e li fe to herpati ens and had chosen not to have a fam il y of her own. Instead she m ade sure that about 50, 000 babi es were safel y deli vered. By thi s tim e I was very not study at m edi cal col l ege l i ke Li n Qi aozhi and carry on her good work?It was stil not too late for me to improve my studies,prepare for the university entrance examinations , and … ELIZABETH FRY When the Quaker El i zabeth m ari ed Joseph Fry, i t seem ed as i f her li fe woul d be fortabl e and owever, Eli zabeth was not content wi th her easy li fe and her growi ng fam il y. She saw many poor people l i vi ng near her and she wanted to hel p them . O ne day she was asked to vi si t a pri son . At fi rst the pri son offi cers di d not want to l et her vi sit the wom en pri soners because they feared the pri soners woul d attack her, but Eli zabeth was not afrai d. She reali zed that the prisoners behave badl l y because they were treated li ke anim als. They had no beds, cl ean cl othes, food or heati ng. Any chi l d born in pri son had to stay there and had no chance of an education. Thi s m eant they woul d probabl y have to beg or steal when they grew up and then woul d return to pri son. So the fi rst thi ng Eli zabeth di d was to provi de food, cl ean cl othes and straw for beds. Later she began a pri son schol for the chi l dren and taught the wom en to sew, kni t and m ake goods to sel l. In thi s way they abl e to m ake a l i tl e money for them selves and gai n som e sel er li ndneshel ped her gai n the fri endshi pof pri soners and they began to try to im prove thei r condi ti ons for them sel ves. Later Eli zabeth was asked to go to the l eaders of Bri tain to di scuss how to im prove the condi ti ons for pri soners。 O f course she di d not do al the work on her ther Quaker women hel ped her and went around the country rai si ng m oney for her wprk. Some peopl e di d not li ke her i deas and quarel ed wi th her. They sai d that she shoul d spend m ore ti m e with her fami l y. Other people sai d she enjoyed being fam ous owever, her husband, Joseph, supported and encouraged her, so she conti nued worki ng to hel p im prove the l i ves of poor pri soners til l she di er i deas di d not di sapear after her death and her work was rem em bered i n 1947 when the Quakers were gi ven the N obl e Peace Pri ze. Uni t 2 A pi oneer for al l peopl e Although he i s one of Chi na’s m ost fam ous sci enti sts, Yuan Longping consi ders him self a farm er, for he works the l and to do hi s research. Indeed, hi s sunburnt face and arm s and his sl im, strong body are just li ke those of mi l i ons of Chi nese farm ers, for whom he has struggl ed for the past fi ce decades. Dr Yuan Longpi ng grows what i s cal ed super hybri d ri ce. In 1974, he becam e the fi rst agri cul tural pioneer i n the worl d to grow Ri ck that has a hi gh output. Thi s speci al strai n of Ri ck m akes i t posi bl e to produce onethi rd m ore of the crop i n the sam e fi el ds. N ow m ore than 60% of the ri ce produced i n Chi na each year i s from thi s hybri d strai n. Born i nto a poor farm er’s fam il y i n 1930, Dr Yuan graduated from Southwest Agri cul tural Col ege i n 1953. Si nce then, fi ndi ng ways to grow m ore ri ce has been his l i fe goal. As a young m an, he saw the great need for incresi ng the ri ce output. At that tim e, hunger was a di sturbi ng probl em i n m any parts of the countrysi de. Dr Yuan searched for a way to i ncrease ri ce harvests without expandi ng the area of the fi el ds. In 1950, Chi nese farm ers coul d produce only fi fty m il li on tons of ri ce. In a recent harvest, however, nearl y two hundred m il li on tons of ri ce was produced. These i ncreased harvests m ean that 22% of thwart worl d’s people are fed from just 7% of the farml and i n Chi na. Dr Yuan i s now ci rcul ati ng hi s knowl edge i n Indi a, Vi etnam and m any other l ess devel oped countri es to increase thei r ri ce harvests. Thanks to hi s research, farm ers are produci ng harvests twice as l arge as before. Dr Yuan i s qui te sati sfi ed wi th hi s li fe. H owever, he doesn39。t care about bei ng famous. H e feel s i t gi ves hi m l ess freedom to do his research. H e woul d rather kep tim e for hi s hobbi es. He enjoys li steni ng to vol i n m usic, pl ayi ng m ahjong, swimm i ng and readi ng. Spendi ng m oney on hi msel f or l eadi ng a fortabl e l ife al so m eans very li ttl e to hi m. Indeed, he beli eves that a person wi th to m uch m oney has m ore rather than fewer troubl s. H e therefore gi ves m il li ons of Yuan to equi p others for thei r research i n agricul ture. Just dre