未来的粮食供应在很大程度上依靠农业研究的成果。我们的研究能否成功,同太阳、地球以及吹向地面的风并没有关系。有些人预言农业研究不能使我们免于灾难,认为人类为争取生产足够的粮食而斗争的历史无足轻重。甚至大多数科学家认为农业不是一门主要科学或够不上称为一门科学。可是它却是一门最早的科学——一切科学之母;现在它仍然是人类赖以生存的科学;可能在本世纪结束之前,科学的成败将取决于农业的成败。 The future supply of food relies heavily on the results of agricultural research. The success of our research has nothing to do with the sun, the earth and the wind blowing to the ground. Some predict that agricultural research will not save us from catastrophe, arguing that the history of humanity’s struggle to produce enough food is insignificant. Even most scientists think agriculture is not a major science or not a science. But it is one of the earliest sciences - the mother of all science; now it is still the science upon which mankind depends; and until the turn of the century, the success or failure of science will depend on the success or failure of agriculture.