拿不出參賽費 江蘇小學生遺憾告別國際機器人決賽

A group of elementary school students from Rudong, Jiangsu province were forced to give up their qualification for an international robotics competition, as their families could not afford the expense to travel abroad.

幾名來自江蘇省如東的小學生被迫放棄了自己參加國際機器人大賽的資格，原因是他們的家庭無力支付出國的費用。

The four students, all from Jing'an Elementary School in Rudong, defeated their competitors from other Asian countries including Japan and India at the RoboRave Asian Contest held in February in Beijing.

這四名學生都來自如東景安小學，在二月份於北京舉行的“RoboRave”亞洲大賽上，他們擊敗了來自日本和印度等其他亞洲國家的競爭者。

RoboRave, an international competition with 15 years of history in the United States, attracts thousands of students to participate each year.

RoboRave是一場國際級的比賽，在美國已有15年曆史，每年都吸引數千名學生參加。

"Our competitors have high-caliber skills and knowledge, while we are just rural school participants who hoped to widen our vision. I cannot believe we were able to defeat them," Wang Yafei, the team's coach, told the Modern Express after the team's victory.

該團隊指導老師王亞飛在獲勝後對《現代快報》表示：“我們的競爭對手都有很強的技術和知識，而我們只是希望能夠拓寬視野的農村參賽者。我簡直不敢相信我們真的打敗了他們。”

The joy of winning didn't last long, however. Participants hoping to move on to the next round are required to pay a fee of 43,000 RMB ($6,200) to take part in the final in Medellin, Colombia.

但是，勝利的喜悅並沒有持續多久。進入下一輪的參賽者必須要支付4.3萬人民幣（約合6200美元）才能夠參在加哥倫比亞麥德林舉行的決賽。

According to Wang, the fee is approximately equal to the average annual income of a rural family in the region, and they could not raise the funds in time for the competition, as the deadline to sign up was March 10.

據王亞飛表示，這筆錢差不多是該地區農村家庭一年的平均收入，而他們也不能及時地籌集到參賽資金，因爲報名截止時間是3月10日。

"In addition to the 43,000 RMB, we would still need at least another 10,000 to buy the necessary equipment. We saw no hope of resolving this financial problem, so we had to give up the contest," explained Wang.

王亞飛解釋稱：“除了4.3萬元的參賽費以外，我們還得至少花1萬元來購買必要的設備。我們看不到解決這個財務問題的希望，因此我們不得不放棄這場比賽。”

Unlike their coach, who feels real regret over the outcome, the students on the team have peacefully accepted the inevitability, noting that their parents and coach tried their best to support their hobby.

與對這一結果倍感失望的指導老師不同的是，團隊裏的學生們都非常平靜地接受了這個事實，表示他們的父母和老師已經竭盡全力來支持自己的愛好了。

"My father told me that our family could not afford the fee, but he still did everything he could to collect the money I needed for the contest," said 12-year-old Dai Youyue, the only female member of the team.

團隊裏唯一的女生、12歲的戴尤月說道：“我爸爸告訴我，家裏拿不出這筆參賽費，但是他還是盡一切努力籌措我參賽所需的費用。”