Gaokao from foreigners' perspective

外国人眼中的高考

Allegedly the world's largest high-stakes test featuring cramming¹ and intense exam preparation, the gaokao has been attracting foreign media attention. Curious reporters found some typical gaokao scenes such as the following.

由于被称为全球最大高风险考试"，并以"死记硬背"著称，中国高考也引起了外媒关注。好奇的外国记者记录下了这样一些典型镜头：

One yaer,before the gaokao

高考前1年…

For the past year, Liu Qichao has focused on one thing, and only one thing: the gaokao. Fourteen to 16 hours a day, he studied for the college entrance examination. He took one day off every 3 weeks. (The New York Times, Jun 13, 2009)

整整一年，刘奇超所有的心思都放在一件事情上，这唯一的一件事便是：高考。他每天学习14到16个小时，每3个星期休息一天。(《纽约时报》，2009年6月13日)

Three month,before the gaokao

高考前3个月…

Ma Li, 18, fits the profile of a final-year student toiling² on the exam treadmill³. She regularly puts in an extra 6 hours at home at the end of a 10-hour school day. (BBC, Jun 8, 2012)

18岁的马丽是在高考机器上挥汗如雨的典型学生形象。她每天在学校学习10小时之外，还要在家再多复习6小时。（英国广播公司，2012年6月8日）

One week,before the gaokao

高考前1周…

Families pull out all the stops to optimize⁴ their children's scores. In Sichuan Province in southwestern China, students studied in a hospital, hooked up to oxygen containers, in the hope of improving their concentration. Some girls take contraceptives so they will not get their periods during the exam. (The New York Times, Jun 13, 2009)

每家每户都想尽办法帮助自己的孩子考试中取得高分。在中国西南地区的四川省，学生一边在医院吸氧一边复习，以期提高注意力。一些女孩子则服用避孕药物以防止月经周期在考试期间到来。(《纽约时报》，2009年6月13日)

The day of gaokao

高考当天

Outside the exam sites, parents keep vigil for hours, as anxiously as husbands waiting for their wives to give birth. A tardy⁵ arrival is disastrous⁶. One student who arrived 4 minutes late in 2007 was turned away, even though she and her mother knelt before the exam proctor, begging for leniency⁷. (The New York Times, Jun 13, 2009)

考场外，家长们持续几个小时地等待，就像等待妻子临产的丈夫一样焦虑。迟到则是毁灭性的，2007年就有一名学生迟到了4分钟，她和她的母亲在监考官面前跪下了，仍然未能参加考试。(《纽约时报》，2009年6月13日)

Tough reality

理想与现实

Following the end of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), China's universities were reopened and the entrance exam was launched in 1977. The vision behind it was utopian. The gaokao was expected to ensure that a peasant's son from Gansu has the same doors open as a Shanghai official - to make high test scores, not political patronage⁸ or guanxi (relationships), the ticket to a university education.

1977年，"文革"后的中国重开大学，恢复了高考，其背后的想法是理想化的：让一个来自甘肃的农家子弟与一个来自上海官员家庭的孩子拥有同等的机会；让分数，而不是政治恩惠或关系，成为大学教育的通行证。

But lower-income Chinese parents now endure too heavy a financial burden as they push their children to obtain as much education as possible.

但是现在，中国的低收入父母正在为让孩子尽可能接受高等教育而承受过于沉重的负担。

For a rural parent in China, each year of higher education costs 6 to 15 months' labor. A year at an average private university in the US equals almost a year's income for the average wage earner, while an in-state public university costs about 6 months' pay. Moreover, an American family that spends half its income helping⁹ a child through college has more spending power with the other half of its income than a rural Chinese family earning less than $5,000 a year.

对于中国的农村父母来说，每一年的高等教育要花费6到15个月的劳动所得。在美国，中等私立大学每年所需费用，基本等同于美国平均收入者1年的工资，而本州的公立大学开销则约等于6个月收入。此外，一个每年拿出一半收入供孩子上大学的美国家庭，其另一半收入的购买力要强于一个年收入少于5000美元的中国农村家庭。

Yet a college degree no longer ensures a well-paying job, because the number of graduates in China has quadrupled in the last decade.

然而，大学学位已经不能再保证一份高薪工作——中国大学毕业生人数已经在过去10年里翻了两番。