中国学生为进入美大学而做的难以置信的事情

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.

路透社拍摄，学生们在完成香港亚洲国际博览馆举行的学术评估测试(SAT)后离开。在美国大学的中国学生数量已经超过其他任何国家，进入美国精英学校变得更加残酷，而学生们以各种奇怪的方式面对这样的挑战。想想看：买黄牛票参加考试，谎称自己去国外探险过，以及凌晨1点钟就开始接受课程辅导。

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.

中国学生奋战高考这个严格的测试已家喻户晓。高考，这个高中学生进入大学的决定性因素，并为压力产生的罪魁祸首，偶尔也会出现作弊现象。

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.

但是由于中国大学毕业生们离校后找不到工作，更多的高中生直接开启他们的海外求学之旅。来自国际教育学院的资料统计表明，在美国大学的外国学生中，中国学生占到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.

与此相比，2012高考考生达到最低，大概9百万，而2008年的最高为1050万。《金融时报》报道有100万学生在2013年高考的最后时刻放弃了。

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

对于某些学生来说，以前高考的压力如今变成了SAT，ACT和TOEFL等考试的压力。

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，一名帮助他的学生申请去美国大学读书的高中老师，说道现在想要去美国读书而在不断努力的人在激增。

"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.

王老师说："五年前，我甚至无法说服一个人参加ACT（美国大学入学考试）考试，我恳求我的学生，我甚至和他们说，你们去考试费用我来出，只要你们去参加并取得好成绩，我知道你们一定可以。"但是一点效果也没有。然而今年，一半的学生选择参加ACT考试。

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

王老师说富人孩子的父母对于让自己孩子去美国大学深造变得更加热情。

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.

有个家庭除了一对一的辅导其他都不接受，他们请王老师从凌层一点到三点专门辅导他们家的孩子，这是那个学生唯一空闲的时间。王老师兑，另一个家庭，他们通过假装带孩子去韩国玩把自己的孩子送去了SAT训练营。

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.

王说，家长们同时一次性找了很多申请美国学校的专业顾问。去年她的一名学生单单为了SAT培训就去了三家不同的培训机构上课。

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

"你为什么要这么做？"王老师问这个学生，学生回答道："我的父母就只希望万事周密。"

Trying to stand out

努力变得出类拔萃

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.

这些中国学生为了大学申请而采用的这些极端方法只是代表了一部分人。但是，围绕教育产业的新闻凸显了人们想要海外深造而产生的激烈竞争。

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.

在学术和应试方面中国学生历来非常严谨认真。很多人通过各方面的努力想要进入美国大学，但单分数方面就对手如林，难以脱颖而出。

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.

一名哈佛毕业生,他在北京采访了很多很多准备去海外深造的学生,发现他们都有类似的申请条件。如果一名学生说她到非洲当过志愿者，其他1000个学生的简历上很快就会出现完全一样的内容，Ho说道。

"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."'

“中国学生没有区别，他们成绩都很好。”他说,“他们都被教育‘你必领这么做，你一定要成为第一名，你现在还是要做第一名。’”

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.

学生和学校遇到的另一个挑战是很难对申请人进行正确的评估。盖伊希文说一个学生的应试能力可能会掩盖其在实际英文应用或其他方面能力的缺陷。希文是一家叫维立克机构的首席运营官，这家机构是为那些美国大学和寄宿学校的申请者们提供视频面试和身份验证的。

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

当他们在维立克机构时，希文以及中国区的杨凯利总监就已经听说了许多为啥需要这类服务的原因。

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.

一位招生负责人在通过网络电话对一个中国学生进行面试时觉得很奇怪，因为有一只黑猫在她的膝盖上。随着面试的进行，几分钟后，招生负责人发现这并非一只猫，而是她妈妈把答案轻声告诉她时所露出的头发。

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.

另一位负责人则是收到了十份来自同一所学校学生的申请，他们都声称自己是这所学校的优等生。希文告诉我们这种现象是很普遍的。

"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."

"这有着很高的风险，基本上决定了你的人生轨迹，"希文说，"但是那些人对什么可以做、什么不可以做有着不同的认知。"

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.

给招生官员具有个性化编录了学生成绩的图书已经成为惯例。Sivan 记得看到过一本精装书，描述了学生的北极探险。不幸的是，由于这些材料难于核实，这些书只是有些娱乐的价值，被堆积到招生办公室的一角。

"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.'"

从学生的角度，通过这种方式引起招生官员们的注意，展示一些给人印象深刻的东西。Sivan说。"很遗憾，但是我认为在一定程度上这是不诚实的，这就是为什么招生官员…他们总是善于发现，我们不能来真的，我们不能认真考虑。

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.

给钱给中间人较为富裕的家庭在这方面有着内在的优势，因为他们能够支付考试费用和让学生更有竞争力的服务。因此，在这领域有很多钱可赚。

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.

对于最好成绩的狂热，一些学生在几个月内进行了多次的像托福这样的考试。这就使得考试变得一席难求，学生不得不辗转到其他地区考试。

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

Kelly Yang说道，这需求转变成了倒卖考试座位票的市场。

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 ,字面翻译成‘黄牛'票的倒卖者，买断考试资格，然后高价卖出，yang说，尽管她说这在体育赛事门票中是普遍的现象，但是现在已经转到了学生的考试领域中。

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

Yang之所以发现了这种趋势，是因为当帮助别人寻找一张九月份的托福考试门票，找不到早于十二月份的。

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

"我们上网输入‘要是买不到考试门票怎么办'网络上的答案是""找黄牛"

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.

虽然一些家长和学生都很了解美国的大学招生，但是他们愿意付更高的酬金给代理和顾问去做全部的工作。这样就创造了一个环境，在这样的环境里满怀希望的家长和学生很容易被利用。

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

结果，一些公司可能会给家长过高的承诺。

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.

期望在增长，Wcott Wang老师说家长们在自己孩子GPA和SAT分数一般的情况下要求把他们送入顶尖学校，尽管可能性很小。

"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."

"问题在于在这个城市里总有一些机构称自己无所不能，所以家长就抱有一线希望，其实根本无法实现。"