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以色列科学家荣获世界粮食奖

A pioneer who made arid¹ lands bloom is the recipient² of this year's prestigious³ World Food Prize. Daniel Hillel developed drip irrigation techniques that squeeze the most crop out of a drop of water, making farming possible in places where water is scarce.

以色列科学家丹尼尔?希勒尔荣获今年的世界粮食奖。希勒尔发明的滴灌技术充分利用每一滴水，使干涸的土地长出粮食，使许多缺水地区能够发展农业生产。

Hillel’s orchards⁴ near his home in Israel are innovation in action.

希勒尔住在以色列，他家附近的果园就是他的试验田。

Each tree row is fed by plastic tubes which drip water at the base of the tree.

希勒尔介绍说：“我们通过这些塑料管对每棵树根部进行滴灌。”

Irrigating⁵ drop by drop - called drip irrigation - has transformed agriculture by dramatically reducing the amount of water needed.

滴灌技术大大减少了灌溉用水，这是农业生产的重大变革。

Farmers now rely on it in water-scarce regions from Spanish vineyards, to African onion fields, to America’s fruit and salad bowl.

从西班牙的葡萄园，到非洲的洋葱田，世界各地缺水地区的农民现在都在使用滴灌技术。

“We in California grow about 50 percent of the fruits and vegetables of the continental⁶ United States," says University of California at Davis hydrologist Jan Hopmans. "And the reason that is possible is because of, indeed, these drip and micro-irrigation techniques.”

加州大学戴维斯分校教授霍普曼说：“加州生产的水果蔬菜占美国大陆总产量的大约百分之50。加州之所以能做到这一点，主要归功于滴灌技术。”

Hillel got his start in dryland farming as a pioneer in Israel’s Negev Desert in the 1950s.

希勒尔是1950年代在以色列内盖夫沙漠开始试验旱地种植的。

"The issue was efficient use of water," he says, "because land is available. It’s extensive. Water is limited.”

他说：“问题就在于有效地使用水。因为土地资源丰富，可以耕种，但水源有限。”

These desert farmers did not have the luxury of running irrigation water through channels to their crops, the way farmers have since ancient times.

干旱地区的农民不可能像其他地方的农民那样修建引水渠浇灌农田。

So Hillel and others gave plants just what they needed, just where they needed it.

所以希勒尔和他的邻居们另辟蹊径，试验用最少的水满足庄稼的需求。

“The idea was to apply the water little by little, the way you spoon-feed a baby,” Hillel says.

希勒尔说：“我们的做法就是一点一点的给水，就像用勺子喂婴儿一样。”

It worked so well that Hillel was soon traveling the world, showing others how to do it.

这种方法非常有效。很快，希勒尔而开始到世界各地去推广滴灌技术了。

Experts say drip irrigation is an innovation whose importance is growing, as climate change and rising population strain water supplies in many parts of the world.

专家们指出，随着气候变化，以及世界许多地方的人口增长对水资源造成的压力，滴灌技术的重要性也不断增加。

“This is where water use, water availability, water-use efficiency and climate change and crop production all converge," Hillel says. "And this has been really the essence of my career.”

希勒尔说：“这里同时涉及水的利用，水资源，用水的效率，气候变化，以及粮食生产。这正是我毕生研究的课题。”

A career whose legacy⁷ can be measured drop by drop.