| As the new academic year begins in China, tens of thousands of students are preparing to fulfill the dream to study overseas. |
新的学年即将开始，成千上万的中国学生为了圆自己的出国留学梦正在做着不懈的努力。 |
| 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. |
过去几年间，我曾在北京当老师。那时候，常有学生向我咨询怎样才能被一所不错的国外大学录取，他们渴望从我这里得到帮助，对此，我已经见怪不怪了。 |
| 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，对于别人做出的这个选择，我不会出言相阻，但我真的很纳闷，特别是了解到中国教育部公布的数据，称93%的中国留学生都是自费出国学习。海外求学开销不小，我想知道这些年轻人是否真的能用金钱给自己镀上一层金。 |
| 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. |
当前，大概有127万大陆学生在国外高校深造，仅2009-2010学年就有28.4万人加入这支留学大军，而2000年的时候只有两万。 |
| 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. |
超过8万的学生被英国高校录取，其中有一千人在知名的剑桥大学就读。光这些数字就让一些学校不得不规定限额，然而，大量涌入的中国学生能一次性付清课程的全部费用，比方说，获得一个文学学士学位需要2.7万英镑学费（折合人民币28万多，而英国学生直到去年还在受到政府的大力补贴）——这对于那些资金紧缺的高校来说无异于一场及时雨。当然，这只是学费，另外还有生活费。 |
| 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，国外留学生给英国带来至少20亿英镑的经济收入，政府还寄希望于这个数字能在未来几年增长十倍。《星期日泰晤士报》也声称，有些学校完全出于经济因素考虑，不惜牺牲当地学生的利益，对招收外国学生放松放宽学术要求。 |
| 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. |
不管这种说法真实与否，我想说的是，就我了解的中国学生而言，为了获得成功，他们挑灯夜战，花在实验室里的时间比谁都多，而国外高校吸收的正是这样一群世界上最勤奋努力的年轻人。 |
![Universities in many western countries are seeing record numbers of applicants from China. [Xinhua] 很多西方国家的大学正受到越来越多中国求学者的青睐，申请人数达到历史最高水平。](http://images.china.cn/attachement/bmp/site1007/20110901/000cf1a48b7f0fc9360c07.bmp "Universities in many western countries are seeing record numbers of applicants from China. [Xinhua] 很多西方国家的大学正受到越来越多中国求学者的青睐，申请人数达到历史最高水平。")
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