Scandal Threatens China's College Entrance Exam

This is VOA Learning English Education Report.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Mr. Xiong says instead administrators with power to decide who enters college have hijacked the system.

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.

And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English. I'm Jerilyn Watson.

competition

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.竞争;比赛

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

Everyone in modern society faces keen competitions.

现代社会的每个人都面临着激烈的竞争。

To our satisfaction, he had got the first prize in the diving competition.

我们满意的是,他在跳水比赛中获得了一等奖。

exchange

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

v.交换;兑换

n.交换;交易所;兑换;交战

参考例句

用作动词 (v.)

We exchanged our opinions about the event at the meeting.

在会上，我们就此事交换了意见。

用作名词 (n.)

Gold shares jumped at the Stock Exchange yesterday.

证券交易所黄金股票昨天又大幅度上涨了。

policy

难度：5星基本词汇，属常用1000词

英汉解释

n.政策;方针

n.保险单

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

This latest incident may be the lever needed to change government policy.

最近的事件或许可以作为迫使政府改变政策所需的手段。

It's the company's policy to sacrifice short-term profits for the sake of long-term growth.

为长期发展而牺牲短期利润是公司的方针。

rural

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

adj.农村的，乡村的，田园的

参考例句

用作形容词 (adj.)

The rural scenery was so beautiful that he decided to stay one more week.

乡村风光太美了，以致于他决定再多呆一星期。

In rural Nepal, owning a book is something many women and children only dream about.

在尼泊尔的乡下,拥有一本书是许多妇女儿童只能梦想的事情。

community

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.社区;社会;公众;共同体;团体;共享;共有;[生]群落

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

Community colleges have become popular and their enrollments have increased rapidly.

社区大学日渐增多，报名人数迅速增长。

The political community is composed of a number of diverse economic and functional groups.

政治共同体由一系列在经济上和功能上不同的团体组成。

volunteer

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.志愿者;(自行生长的)植物

v.(自愿)做

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

He enlisted as a volunteer in the army.

他以志愿兵从军。

用作动词 (v.)

Many people volunteer to work on the farms.

许多人自动到农场劳动。

entry

难度：4星核心词汇，属常用3000词

英汉解释

n.进入;进入权;入口;条目

参考例句

用作名词 (n.)

You can leave your umbrella in the entry.

雨伞可放在入口处。

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