中國學生爲進入美大學而做的難以置信的事情

REUTERS/Tyrone Siu Students leave after a Scholastic Assessment Tests (SAT) exam at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. As the number of Chinese students in U.S. colleges outpaces that of any other country, the journey to get into an elite American university has only gotten More cutthroat and students are rising to the challenge in strange ways. Think: Scalping tickets for tests, making up exotic adventures, and getting tutored at 1:00 am.

路透社拍攝，學生們在完成香港亞洲國際博覽館舉行的學術評估測試(SAT)後離開。在美國大學的中國學生數量已經超過其他任何國家，進入美國精英學校變得更加殘酷，而學生們以各種奇怪的方式面對這樣的挑戰。想想看：買黃牛票參加考試，謊稱自己去國外探險過，以及凌晨1點鐘就開始接受課程輔導。

China is already known for one rigorous exam that students spend years preparing for – the gaokao. The determining factor in a high school student's college placement, the gaokao is the cause of pressure, stress, and occasionally cheating among test takers.

中國學生奮戰高考這個嚴格的測試已家喻戶曉。高考，這個高中學生進入大學的決定性因素，併爲壓力產生的罪魁禍首，偶爾也會出現作弊現象。

But as graduates emerge from Chinese universities without jobs, more high school students are directing their efforts overseas. Chinese students now make up 31 percent of all international college students at U.S. universities, according to data from the Institute of International Education.

但是由於中國大學畢業生們離校後找不到工作，更多的高中生直接開啓他們的海外求學之旅。來自國際教育學院的資料統計表明，在美國大學的外國學生中，中國學生佔到31%。

In contrast, gaokao test takers reached a low in 2012 of about nine million since its peak of 10.5 million in 2008. The Financial Times reported that an additional million students backed out of the test last minute in 2013.

與此相比，2012高考考生達到最低，大概9百萬，而2008年的最高爲1050萬。《金融時報》報道有100萬學生在2013年高考的最後時刻放棄了。

The pressure that once came with the gaokao now falls for some students to the SAT, ACT, and TOEFL.

對於某些學生來說，以前高考的壓力如今變成了SAT，ACT和TOEFL等考試的壓力。

t Wang, a high school teacher who works with students applying to U.S. universities, said the amount of studying that goes into these efforts has intensified.

Scott Wang，一名幫助他的學生申請去美國大學讀書的高中老師，說道現在想要去美國讀書而在不斷努力的人在激增。

"Five years ago, I couldn't convince a single person to even consider taking the ACT," Wang said. "I begged, I was like ‘I will even pay for your testing fee if you take the test and get a good score, because I know you can,' – nothing. This year, half the students are ACT take.

王老師說："五年前，我甚至無法說服一個人參加ACT（美國大學入學考試）考試，我懇求我的學生，我甚至和他們說，你們去考試費用我來出，只要你們去參加並取得好成績，我知道你們一定可以。"但是一點效果也沒有。然而今年，一半的學生選擇參加ACT考試。

Wang said wealthy parents especially have become more zealous about getting their children admitted to US. universities.

王老師說富人孩子的父母對於讓自己孩子去美國大學深造變得更加熱情。

One family refused anything less than a one-on-one tutoring session, asking Wang to tutor from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. – the only free time the student had. Another family sent their child to an SAT boot camp u nder the guise that they were going on vacation to Korea, Wang said.

有個家庭除了一對一的輔導其他都不接受，他們請王老師從凌層一點到三點專門輔導他們家的孩子，這是那個學生唯一空閒的時間。王老師兌，另一個家庭，他們通過假裝帶孩子去韓國玩把自己的孩子送去了SAT訓練營。

Parents have also hired multiple college application specialists at once. Wang said one of his students from last year went to three different tutoring companies for SAT training alone.

王說，家長們同時一次性找了很多申請美國學校的專業顧問。去年她的一名學生單單爲了SAT培訓就去了三家不同的培訓機構上課。

"Why are you bothering?" Wang had asked him. "He said, 'Well, my parents just want to be thorough."

"你爲什麼要這麼做？"王老師問這個學生，學生回答道："我的父母就只希望萬事周密。"

Trying to stand out

努力變得出類拔萃

The intense measures Chinese students go to during college applications is only representative of a fraction of the population. However, stories traded around the education industry highlight the competition that comes with wanting an education abroad.

這些中國學生爲了大學申請而採用的這些極端方法只是代表了一部分人。但是，圍繞教育產業的新聞凸顯了人們想要海外深造而產生的激烈競爭。

Traditionally, Chinese students have always been rigorous when it comes to academics and test-taking. For those that are doing everything to get into a U.S. university, the sheer number of high test scores has made standing out even harder.

在學術和應試方面中國學生歷來非常嚴謹認真。很多人通過各方面的努力想要進入美國大學，但單分數方面就對手如林，難以脫穎而出。

Cheng Ho, a Harvard graduate who has interviewed Chinese prospective students in Beijing, said he talked to tons of students with similar qualifications. If one student said she went to Africa to volunteer, a thousand other students will soon have the exact same thing on their resumes as well. Ho said.

一名哈佛畢業生,他在北京採訪了很多很多準備去海外深造的學生,發現他們都有類似的申請條件。如果一名學生說她到非洲當過志願者，其他1000個學生的簡歷上很快就會出現完全一樣的內容，Ho說道。

"Chinese students are no different, they all have great grades," he said. "All they were ever taught was ,'You gotta do this, you gotta be number one, you still have to be number one."'

“中國學生沒有區別，他們成績都很好。”他說,“他們都被教育‘你必領這麼做，你一定要成爲第一名，你現在還是要做第一名。’”

Another challenge facing students and schools is the difficulty in accurately evaluating all applicants. A student's aptitude for test taking may mask deficiencies in actual English or other capabilities, Guy Sivan said. Sivan is the COO of Vericant, a company that offers video interviewing services and identification verification for U.S. college and boarding school applicants.

學生和學校遇到的另一個挑戰是很難對申請人進行正確的評估。蓋伊希文說一個學生的應試能力可能會掩蓋其在實際英文應用或其他方面能力的缺陷。希文是一家叫維立克機構的首席運營官，這家機構是爲那些美國大學和寄宿學校的申請者們提供視頻面試和身份驗證的。

In their time at Vericant, Sivan and China director Kelly Yang have heard many reasons why such a service is necessary.

當他們在維立克機構時，希文以及中國區的楊凱利總監就已經聽說了許多爲啥需要這類服務的原因。

One admissions officer, while speaking with a Chinese student over Skype, thought it was strange that the student had a black cat in her lap during the interview. Several minutes into the interview, the admissions officer realized that it wasn't a cat, but the hair from her mother's head as she whispered answers to the applicant.

一位招生負責人在通過網絡電話對一箇中國學生進行面試時覺得很奇怪，因爲有一隻黑貓在她的膝蓋上。隨着面試的進行，幾分鐘後，招生負責人發現這並非一隻貓，而是她媽媽把答案輕聲告訴她時所露出的頭髮。

Another admissions office received ten applications from students of the same school, all claiming to be the top student at the school. Sivan said this kind of occurrence is very common.

另一位負責人則是收到了十份來自同一所學校學生的申請，他們都聲稱自己是這所學校的優等生。希文告訴我們這種現象是很普遍的。

"It's very, very high stakes, it's basically your path of life," Sivan said. "And people have different senses of what's possible or not possible to do."

"這有着很高的風險，基本上決定了你的人生軌跡，"希文說，"但是那些人對什麼可以做、什麼不可以做有着不同的認知。"

Giving admissions officers personalized books cataloging students' achievements has also become a common practice. Sivan remembered seeing one hardcover book that charted a student's arctic expedition. Unfortunately, because these additional materials are hard to verify, they often only carry entertainment value, piled into a corner of the admissions office.

給招生官員具有個性化編錄了學生成績的圖書已經成爲慣例。Sivan 記得看到過一本精裝書，描述了學生的北極探險。不幸的是，由於這些材料難於覈實，這些書只是有些娛樂的價值，被堆積到招生辦公室的一角。

"From the student's point of view, this is a way to get the attention of the admissions officer, to show something very, very impressive," Sivan said. "It's sad, but I think in most cases it's not really honest, and that's why the admissions officers ... they already kind of figure out, 'We can't really take it seriously, we can't really consider it.'"

從學生的角度，通過這種方式引起招生官員們的注意，展示一些給人印象深刻的東西。Sivan說。"很遺憾，但是我認爲在一定程度上這是不誠實的，這就是爲什麼招生官員…他們總是善於發現，我們不能來真的，我們不能認真考慮。

Money for the middleman. Wealthier families have an inherent advantage in the landscape, since they are able to afford the test fees and services that will make a student more competitive. Because of this, there's a lot of money to be made by those in the industry.

給錢給中間人較爲富裕的家庭在這方面有着內在的優勢，因爲他們能夠支付考試費用和讓學生更有競爭力的服務。因此，在這領域有很多錢可賺。

In the frenzy to get the best scores, some students ends up taking tests like the TOEFL multiple times in a few months. This makes it very difficult to get a testing seat, so students have to travel to remote areas of the country in order to take the exam.

對於最好成績的狂熱，一些學生在幾個月內進行了多次的像託福這樣的考試。這就使得考試變得一席難求，學生不得不輾轉到其他地區考試。

Kelly Yang said the demand has turned into a market for scalping test seat tickets.

Kelly Yang說道，這需求轉變成了倒賣考試座位票的市場。

Referred to as huangniu, literally translated to 'yellow cow,' ticket scalpers buy up seats for tests, then sell them at a higher price, Yang said. Although she said it was most common with sporting event tickets, the operations had recently moved over to student exams.

提到huangniu ,字面翻譯成‘黃牛'票的倒賣者，買斷考試資格，然後高價賣出，yang說，儘管她說這在體育賽事門票中是普遍的現象，但是現在已經轉到了學生的考試領域中。

Yang discovered the trend while helping someone look for a September TOEFL test seat, and couldn't find any earlier than December.

Yang之所以發現了這種趨勢，是因爲當幫助別人尋找一張九月份的托福考試門票，找不到早於十二月份的。

"We searched online and said, 'What if I can't get the test date I want?' she said. "It said 'Go to huangniu.'"

"我們上網輸入‘要是買不到考試門票怎麼辦'網絡上的答案是""找黃牛"

While some parents and students have become very well-versed in U.S. college admissions, others are willing to pay high premiums for agents and consultants to do all the work. This has created an environment in which it is very easy to take advantage of hopeful students and parents.

雖然一些家長和學生都很瞭解美國的大學招生，但是他們願意付更高的酬金給代理和顧問去做全部的工作。這樣就創造了一個環境，在這樣的環境裏滿懷希望的家長和學生很容易被利用。

As a result, some companies may end up over-promising.

結果，一些公司可能會給家長過高的承諾。

With expectations rising, teacher Scott Wang said he's seen parents demand their child get into a top school with an average GPA and SAT score, even though the likelihood is very low.

期望在增長，Wcott Wang老師說家長們在自己孩子GPA和SAT分數一般的情況下要求把他們送入頂尖學校，儘管可能性很小。

"The problem is that in this city there's always going to be somebody out there who's like, 'Yeah, we can make that happen,'" Wang said. "And they'll go there, hoping against hope that something's going to be possible when it's not."

"問題在於在這個城市裏總有一些機構稱自己無所不能，所以家長就抱有一線希望，其實根本無法實現。"