外媒看中國：爲何大家爭着上美國名校？

There are more than a quarter of a million students from China in colleges in the United States - a third of all international students in the country - and almost a fivefold increase since 2000. Why do so many now come to study in the US?
在美國高校，中國留學生的人數超過了25萬，佔到了美國留學生人數的1/3,自2000年以來，這個數字每年還在以5倍的速率增長。中國留學生何緣如此青睞美國高校？

More choice
更多的選擇機會

Jayden chose the UIUC without ever having been to the turned down an offer at a Chinese university in Shanghai because a Western education offered him the freedom to choose his focus of study.
傑登在選擇美國伊利諾伊大學香檳分校之前從未來過美國。他沒有選擇中國上海的一所高校，因爲西式的教育給他更自由的選擇機會，讓他能夠選擇自己學習的重心。

That is representative of a number of Chinese students. They want to get out of a schooling system that uses test scores to determine the subjects students will take, which makes it difficult to change once these have been assigned.
傑登的選擇代表了許多中國學子的想法。他們想要逃脫中國的應試教育體制，這種教育體制用考試成績來決定一個學生應該學習的科目，而一旦科目確定了，就很難再更改。

'One-child' generation
獨生子的一代

There are other non-academic factors fuelling the spike in students going to the US, such as the expansion of China's middle class and policies on families.
除了學術本身的原因，還有許多其他方面的原因一起推動着這股涌向美國的中國留學生大潮、比如中國中產階級人數的增加，還有中國的生育政策。

Charles Tucker, vice provost for Undergraduate Education and Innovation at UIUC, points out that "children who were born under the one-child policy are now of college-educated age… and changes in the Chinese economy have promoted individual wealth in families".
美國伊利諾伊大學香檳分校本科教育和創新副教務長，查爾斯·塔克先生指出，“在中國，計劃生育政策之下出生的一代現在已經到了上大學的年紀了。同是，中國經濟政策的變化也使得每個家庭的個體收入有所增加。

Family savings
家庭儲蓄

Xuran (Sherry) Peng, one of the students from China, says her parents had to use a large portion of their savings to send her to UIUC.
彭旭冉是一箇中國學生，她說，爲了供她去伊利諾伊大學香檳分校，家裏不得不拿出家庭積蓄的一大部分作爲學費。

They believe it is an investment that will benefit her entire family, including her six-year-old half brother.
全家人都相信，這筆學費將是一種投資，將來會造福全家人，包括她只有六歲半的弟弟。

"I feel like it's part of my responsibility to earn the tuition for him, because my parents actually have the big wish that both of us can finish our education in the US and probably work in the US in the future," she says.
她說，“我覺得爲弟弟掙學費也是我對家人的一種義務，因爲我的父母對我和弟弟都寄予重望，希望我們倆都能在美國完成學業，甚至將來可以在美國就業。”