| As the new academic year begins in China, tens of thousands of students are preparing to fulfill the dream to study overseas. |
新的學年即將開始，成千上萬的中國學生為了圓自己的出國留學夢正在做著不懈的努力。 |
| In the past few years of teaching in Beijing, I have become used to students approaching me for advice and help in getting into a good foreign school. |
過去幾年間，我曾在北京當老師。那時候，常有學生向我咨詢怎樣才能被一所不錯的國外大學錄取，他們渴望從我這里得到幫助，對此，我已經見怪不怪了。 |
| I would never stop anyone from taking this route, but I do wonder about it -- especially as China's Ministry of Education reports 93 percent of those studying abroad are self-funded. Foreign study is not cheap and I wonder if youngsters are getting value for money. |
固然，對于別人做出的這個選擇，我不會出言相阻，但我真的很納悶，特別是了解到中國教育部公布的數據，稱93%的中國留學生都是自費出國學習。海外求學開銷不小，我想知道這些年輕人是否真的能用金錢給自己鍍上一層金。 |
| An estimated 1.27 million mainland students are now studying in foreign universities, with 284,000 alone taking this route in the academic year 2009-2010. In 2000, the number was only 20,000. |
當前，大概有127萬大陸學生在國外高校深造，僅2009-2010學年就有28.4萬人加入這支留學大軍，而2000年的時候只有兩萬。 |
| There are well over 80,000 Chinese students attending British universities -- including 1,000 at the famed University of Cambridge. Sheer numbers forced some schools to impose quotas, although for many cash-strapped universities the influx of Chinese paying full course fees -- such as 27,000 pounds (over 280,000 RMB) for a bachelor of arts degree (British students were heavily subsidized until last year) -- has been a Godsend. To this has to be added living costs, of course. |
超過8萬的學生被英國高校錄取，其中有一千人在知名的劍橋大學就讀。光這些數字就讓一些學校不得不規定限額，然而，大量涌入的中國學生能一次性付清課程的全部費用，比方說，獲得一個文學學士學位需要2.7萬英鎊學費（折合人民幣28萬多，而英國學生直到去年還在受到政府的大力補貼）——這對于那些資金緊缺的高校來說無異于一場及時雨。當然，這只是學費，另外還有生活費。 |
| With international students bringing at least 2 billion pounds annually into the British economy, and the government hoping for a tenfold increase over the next few years, the London Sunday Times alleged some schools were "bending the rules" on academic standards to admit foreigners at the expense of local students purely from financial motives. |
每年，國外留學生給英國帶來至少20億英鎊的經濟收入，政府還寄希望于這個數字能在未來幾年增長十倍。《星期日泰晤士報》也聲稱，有些學校完全出于經濟因素考慮，不惜犧牲當地學生的利益，對招收外國學生放松放寬學術要求。 |
| Whether there is any truth in this, I would say that, in regard to the Chinese students I know, the universities have gained some of the world's most hard-working youngsters who "burn the midnight oil" and spend the longest hours of anyone in the research library to succeed. |
不管這種說法真實與否，我想說的是，就我了解的中國學生而言，為了獲得成功，他們挑燈夜戰，花在實驗室里的時間比誰都多，而國外高校吸收的正是這樣一群世界上最勤奮努力的年輕人。 |
![Universities in many western countries are seeing record numbers of applicants from China. [Xinhua] 很多西方國家的大學正受到越來越多中國求學者的青睞，申請人數達到歷史最高水平。](http://images.china.cn/attachement/bmp/site1007/20110901/000cf1a48b7f0fc9360c07.bmp "Universities in many western countries are seeing record numbers of applicants from China. [Xinhua] 很多西方國家的大學正受到越來越多中國求學者的青睞，申請人數達到歷史最高水平。")
