Lathe Boy Forges a Long Path of Scientific Research

Lin Ye failed in the high school entrance examination and entered a secondary vocational school majoring in mechanics, and was numb and sinking all day long. His father fell down while working and was bedridden. The family owed medical expenses and foreign debts. Others persuaded him to drop out of school and make short-term money to support the family. His classmates were puzzled by his choice to immerse himself in research. The idle youth in the village also persuaded him to change his career to make a living. Lin Ye always adhered to the bottom line and refused all shortcuts. By chance, he picked up an old mechanical operation manual. The words in the book about old technicians deeply cultivating their craftsmanship and not being greedy for immediate profits awakened the young man who was trapped at the bottom of the valley. From then on, he said goodbye to junk work and spent the day polishing parts at the lathe station, strictly controlling micron-level tolerances; late at night, hand-drawing structural drawings, taking cultural classes, and practicing hard day after day. He ranked first in the assessment and won the first prize in the municipal mechanical skills competition. He passed the vocational education college entrance examination and was admitted to the public undergraduate mechanical major. When entering university, the prejudice against someone who came from a secondary vocational school often exists, and many people look down upon his practical skills. Lin Ye used his long-term workshop skills to make up for his theoretical shortcomings. He was firmly at the forefront of professional courses, improved the transmission structure, and won scientific innovation awards and utility model patents. Many companies offered high salaries and invitations to jointly build factories, and his relatives and friends advised him to seize the immediate dividends. However, Lin Ye chose to delve into long-term technology and pursue further studies in the country's top mechanical research field. When he was applying for graduate school, he was qualified for exemption based on his full academic credits, core patents, and national-level competition honors, breaking the public's inherent prejudice that vocational education students find it difficult to engage in scientific research. The boy with a lathe covered in motor oil did not rely on connections or look for shortcuts. He paved his own scientific research path with a file and polished it countless days and nights, and devoted himself to the research and development of domestic core machinery technology.