美國(guó)首個(gè)州立旗艦大學(xué)認(rèn)可中國(guó)高考成績(jī)

HONG KONG — Every June, millions of high school seniors in China sit down for a grueling university entrance exam, knowing they may not get into a top school or any school at all. If their results are disappointing, finding another route to university can take a year or more.

香港——每年六月，中國(guó)都有數(shù)百萬(wàn)高中畢業(yè)生參加一場(chǎng)激烈的大學(xué)招生考試，即使他們知道自己有可能無(wú)法進(jìn)入頂級(jí)高校，或者根本進(jìn)不了任何院校。如果成績(jī)不理想，另尋一條出路進(jìn)入大學(xué)可能會(huì)花上一年或者更多的時(shí)間。

Now they may have a faster option.

現(xiàn)在，他們可能有了一個(gè)更快的選項(xiàng)。

The University of New Hampshire says it will start accepting scores from the Chinese exam, making it the first flagship state school in the United States to evaluate Chinese applicants using the results from that test, known as the gaokao.

新罕布什爾大學(xué)(University of New Hampshire)表示，它將開(kāi)始接受中國(guó)考試的成績(jī)。這使該校成為了美國(guó)首個(gè)以高考結(jié)果來(lái)評(píng)估中國(guó)申請(qǐng)者的州立旗艦大學(xué)。

There are 377,000 Chinese students in the United States, representing more than one-third of all international students, according to the federal government. Since they often pay full tuition, they are an important source of revenue for American universities, which have been intensifying their efforts to recruit Chinese students.

根據(jù)聯(lián)邦政府的統(tǒng)計(jì)，美國(guó)有37.7萬(wàn)中國(guó)學(xué)生，占全體國(guó)際學(xué)生的三分之一以上。他們往往會(huì)支付全額學(xué)費(fèi)，因而成了美國(guó)大學(xué)的一個(gè)重要收入來(lái)源。美國(guó)大學(xué)正在加大力度招收中國(guó)學(xué)生。

Erika Mantz, spokeswoman for the University of New Hampshire, said the gaokao program was meant to attract “outstanding Chinese high school graduates” after they get their test results in late June, months after the deadline has passed under the regular admissions process. Most incoming freshmen would have been admitted by the time Chinese students take the gaokao test.

新罕布什爾大學(xué)發(fā)言人埃麗卡·曼茨(Erika Mantz)表示，高考項(xiàng)目旨在吸引“優(yōu)秀的中國(guó)高中畢業(yè)生”，他們會(huì)在六月底拿到高考成績(jī)，這個(gè)時(shí)間超過(guò)了常規(guī)招生過(guò)程最后截止日期好幾個(gè)月。大多數(shù)即將到來(lái)的大一新生會(huì)在中國(guó)學(xué)生高考的時(shí)候被錄取。

The university — which had 781 international students last fall, almost half of them from China — has introduced a recruiting website in Chinese and English. Before the program for gaokao students was created, applicants who took the test would have to wait for a new application cycle to start in the fall. The new program allows them to start one semester earlier.

該校推出了一個(gè)中英雙語(yǔ)的招生網(wǎng)站，在它去年秋季錄取的781名國(guó)際生中，有半數(shù)來(lái)自中國(guó)。在這個(gè)為參加高考的學(xué)生而設(shè)的項(xiàng)目出現(xiàn)前，參加過(guò)高考的申請(qǐng)者必須要等到下一輪在秋季開(kāi)始的招生。新項(xiàng)目能讓他們?cè)缫粋€(gè)學(xué)期開(kāi)始。

The gaokao, which generally lasts about nine hours over two days, determines the fates of almost 10 million students, less than 1 percent of whom gain admission to China’s top universities. Students spend years preparing for it.

通常為期兩天、時(shí)長(zhǎng)大約九個(gè)小時(shí)的高考，決定著將近一千萬(wàn)學(xué)生的命運(yùn)，只有不到1%的考生有資格進(jìn)入的中國(guó)頂級(jí)大學(xué)。學(xué)生們會(huì)花費(fèi)數(shù)年時(shí)間為考試做準(zhǔn)備。

While the Chinese education system has been praised for its rigor — a Stanford study found that freshmen at Chinese universities outpaced their American and Russian peers by two or three years in critical thinking skills — critics say the gaokao incentivizes memorization over creativity. There have also been cheating scandals in recent years.

雖然中國(guó)的教育系統(tǒng)以其嚴(yán)格著稱——斯坦佛的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，中國(guó)高校的大一新生在批判性思維能力方面超過(guò)美國(guó)和俄羅斯的同年級(jí)學(xué)生兩到三年，但批評(píng)人士表示，高考鼓勵(lì)的是記憶而非創(chuàng)造。近幾年也出現(xiàn)過(guò)作弊丑聞。

About 3 percent of Chinese students bypass the gaokao by paying to attend private “international track” programs that prepare them for standardized testing abroad. But their classmates planning to take the gaokao have little time for anything other than intense cramming in the years leading up to this rite of passage.

約有3%的中國(guó)學(xué)生通過(guò)自費(fèi)參與私立的“國(guó)際接軌”項(xiàng)目繞開(kāi)高考，為他們?cè)诤Ｍ鈪⒓訕?biāo)準(zhǔn)化測(cè)試做準(zhǔn)備。但他們計(jì)劃參加高考的同班同學(xué)，在這個(gè)重要日子來(lái)臨之前的數(shù)年時(shí)間里，除了緊鑼密鼓地惡補(bǔ)做準(zhǔn)備，幾乎沒(méi)有時(shí)間做其他事情。

That single-minded focus isolates students from educational opportunities outside China, said Andrew Chen, the chief learning officer of the WholeRen Group, an education consulting firm based in Pittsburgh. It is rare for students to apply to programs abroad while also preparing for the Chinese exam, which takes place months after the deadline for most American universities.

總部位于匹茲堡的教育咨詢公司厚仁集團(tuán)教育總監(jiān)陳航表示，這樣一心一意的投入使學(xué)生與中國(guó)以外的教育機(jī)會(huì)絕緣。極少有學(xué)生在準(zhǔn)備中國(guó)考試的同時(shí)還會(huì)申請(qǐng)國(guó)外課程，中國(guó)的高考在美國(guó)大多數(shù)大學(xué)的入學(xué)申請(qǐng)截止數(shù)月以后才會(huì)舉行。

Students unhappy with their gaokao results can wait a year to retake the test, as almost 1.5 million did last year, or take a gap year to prepare for the next cycle of American admissions. The University of New Hampshire program would take a bit of agony out of the wait, with an Oct. 1 deadline to apply for admission in January 2019.

對(duì)高考成績(jī)不滿意的學(xué)生可以等待一年重新參加考試，就像去年差不多150萬(wàn)人做的那樣，或者利用間隔年來(lái)準(zhǔn)備下一輪的美國(guó)招生錄取。而新罕布什爾大學(xué)的項(xiàng)目則可以減少一些等待的痛苦，2019年1月入學(xué)的申請(qǐng)截止日期給到了10月1日。

“From the student’s perspective, it opens a door,” Mr. Chen said in a phone interview.

“從學(xué)生的角度看，就是打開(kāi)了一扇門，”陳航在電話采訪中說(shuō)。

Like other out-of-state students, students admitted to the University of New Hampshire through the gaokao program would have to pay over $45,000 a year in tuition and housing costs.

和其他外州學(xué)生一樣，通過(guò)高考項(xiàng)目入讀新罕布什爾大學(xué)的學(xué)生每年需要支付4.5萬(wàn)美元以上的學(xué)費(fèi)和住宿費(fèi)。

The University of New Hampshire joins dozens of European, Australian and Canadian universities, as well as a handful of private American institutions, that have been screening candidates using cutoff gaokao scores. The university reviews how students perform on the gaokao, and on an assessment of their English language skills, before determining whether they can move forward with the application process.

除了新罕布什爾大學(xué)外，還有幾十個(gè)歐洲、澳大利亞和加拿大的大學(xué)以及少部分美國(guó)私立機(jī)構(gòu)使用高考錄取分?jǐn)?shù)線來(lái)篩選申請(qǐng)人。決定學(xué)生是否能進(jìn)入申請(qǐng)下一個(gè)環(huán)節(jié)前，該校會(huì)評(píng)估學(xué)生在高考中的表現(xiàn)，以及他們的英語(yǔ)技能。

Ms. Mantz, the spokeswoman, said that although admissions criteria were still being finalized, students considered for the University of New Hampshire would most likely have to take the SAT or the ACT, a similar test, after their scores on the gaokao were vetted.

該校發(fā)言人曼茨表示，雖然招生標(biāo)準(zhǔn)仍在進(jìn)行最后的確定，但在新罕布什爾大學(xué)考慮范圍內(nèi)的學(xué)生的高考分?jǐn)?shù)經(jīng)過(guò)審查后，很可能還需要參加SAT或與之類似的ACT考試。

But admitted students would still set foot on campus earlier than they would have otherwise.

但與其他情況相比，被錄取的學(xué)生還是能早一些踏入校園。

“This streamlined process quickly gives feedback to students who need additional English prep, so that they can start on that path right away,” Ms. Mantz wrote in an email.

“這種簡(jiǎn)化的流程很快為那些需要額外英語(yǔ)準(zhǔn)備的學(xué)生提供反饋，這樣他們就可以立即著手準(zhǔn)備了，”曼茨在一封郵件中寫道。

A similar program at the University of San Francisco allows Chinese students to bypass U.S. standardized testing altogether. A Jesuit institution with about 6,800 undergraduate students, the university has an early admissions program that allows June test takers to enroll as early as the fall semester, based solely on their gaokao score, grades and a one-on-one interview in English. Last spring, more than half of the school’s 1,600 international students were from China.

大約有6800位本科生的耶穌會(huì)大學(xué)——舊金山大學(xué)(University of San Francisco)有一個(gè)類似項(xiàng)目，允許中國(guó)學(xué)生繞過(guò)美國(guó)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化測(cè)試。該校有一個(gè)預(yù)錄取項(xiàng)目，讓六月參加高考的考生憑其高考分?jǐn)?shù)、評(píng)分等級(jí)和一對(duì)一英文面試，最快能秋季入學(xué)。去年春季，該校的1600名國(guó)際學(xué)生有超過(guò)半數(shù)來(lái)自中國(guó)。

On the program website, Paul J. Fitzgerald, the school’s president, said that although he was aware of criticism of the gaokao, it had the “advantage” of evaluating “whether students are able to master a given body of knowledge, as well as their ability to work hard and consistently.”

在該項(xiàng)目課程的網(wǎng)站上，校長(zhǎng)保羅·J·菲茲杰拉德(Paul J. Fitzgerald)表示，盡管他意識(shí)到了對(duì)高考的批評(píng)，但它“有優(yōu)勢(shì)”評(píng)價(jià)“學(xué)生是否熟練掌握一個(gè)特定知識(shí)體系，以及他們是否具備刻苦學(xué)習(xí)并堅(jiān)持到底的品質(zhì)”。

Mr. Fitzgerald noted that the SAT, which serves as a basis for admission at most four-year colleges and universities in the United States, is also an imperfect predictor of college success.

菲茲杰拉德指出，美國(guó)許多四年制學(xué)院和高校用來(lái)當(dāng)做錄取根據(jù)的SAT考試，也并不是一個(gè)能夠預(yù)計(jì)學(xué)生大學(xué)成就的完美工具。