VOA慢速英语:Scandal Threatens China's College Entrance Exam

Millions of high school students in China took a college entrance examination recently. The highly competitive test is often praised for giving good students a chance to enter the best schools. It makes the competition for college fair for students from poor families. The examination is known as the Gaokao.
中国数百万高中学生最近参加了高考。这一竞争激烈的考试常被誉为给优秀学子提供了进入最好学校的机会。它使得大学入学考试对贫困家庭学生也能公平。这次考试被称为高考。

Universities are supposed to require good scores on the test for admission to college. But reports suggest that some people are getting into schools without even taking the test. Education is very important to gaining a good standing in Chinese society. This year, about nine million students competed for about seven million places in colleges.
大学理应对入学考试有很高的成绩要求。但有报道表明，有些人甚至没参加考试就进入了学校。教育对在中国社会中获得良好地位来说非常重要。今年以来，大约有900万名学生争夺700万个左右的高校名额。

Every June, Chinese media report on the hard work and worry of students preparing for the Gaokao. This year, however, newspapers are writing stories about corruption in the country's top schools.
每年六月，中国媒体都会报道学生准备高考的努力和担忧。然而今年，各报纸都报道了中国顶尖学校的腐败新闻。

One case involves Cai Rongsheng, the former head of admissions at Beijing's highly respected Renmin University. Mr. Cai reportedly took money in exchange for approving admissions for students who did not take the Gaokao.
其中一起案件涉及了北京备受推崇的人民大学的前招生负责人蔡荣生。据报道蔡先生接受金钱贿赂批准录取未参加高考的学生入学。

Yang Rui studies Chinese education policy at the University of Hong Kong. He says the Gaokao offered millions of people chances for a better life. And Mr. Yang says it changed the country after the late 1970s.
杨瑞在香港大学研究中国教育政策。他说，高考给数百万人提供了一个创造更美好生活的机会，杨先生还说，高考在上世纪70年代末之后改变了中国。

"But increasingly, academics and government policymakers realized Gaokao is not really fair, Many people are in much better positions than those in rural - for example - schools. Also, scores themselves only cannot tell the whole picture," Yang said.
杨说，“但是，越来越多学者和政府决策者意识到高考并非真正的公平。许多城市学生比农村学生享有优势，比如他们的学校教育。此外单靠分数并不能代表学生的全部水平。”

Some universities in China are permitted to chose up to five percent of their first year students for reasons other than schoolwork. These could include sports, interest groups  or community volunteer work.
中国的一些大学允许通过成绩以外的因素录取高达5%的大一新生。这些因素包括体育、兴趣小组和社区志愿者工作。

The policy is designed to help candidates whose abilities would not identifiable from Gaokao test scores. Schools also have had more freedom to chose candidates from rural areas.
该政策的目的是帮助那些无法通过高考成绩辨别其能力的考生。学校在录取农村地区考生上也有更大自由。

Xiong Bingqi is vice president of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a Non-Governmental Group. He proposes other ways to get different kinds of students. He says students should be nominated by their high schools, then take examinations at the university. Finally, a person would be offered a place at the school through performance records.
熊丙奇是21世纪教育研究院的副院长，这是一家非政府性组织。他建议通过其它方式录取不同的学生。他说，学生们应当经由他们的高中提名，然后参加大学的考试。最终，这名考生将通过其表现被该校录取。

Mr. Xiong says instead administrators with power to decide who enters college have hijacked the system.
熊先生称，然而有权决定录取谁的行政官员劫持了该系统。

Officials have banned trading university entry for money or better treatment. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education demanded a more open and better supervised admission system.
有关方面已经禁止以大学入学作为条件换取金钱或更好的待遇。今年早些时候，教育部要求招生制度更加开放，监督更严格。