第三部分中国今日的热门话题.doc

Chapter Three Conversation about Hot Topics in China Today Part I A Talk on Chinas Education A: Guest B: Tour Guide A: How does the Chinese school system work? B: Well, first of all most children start school at the age of six or seven and they cant leave school until the age of fifteen. After they finish this 9-year compulsory education, they usually take an examination, which determine whether they can go to senior high school or not. A: What do you mean by this 9-year compulsory education? B: According to our Law of Education, the 9-year education from Grade one to Grade nine is compulsory (that is, from primary to junior high school.) A: So the education on the senior high level is optional. B: Yes. Senior high school education in many countries is compulsory, but not in China. China cannot afford to do that at the moment, mainly because our national economy is not sufficiently developed. A: What about junior high school graduates? Do they have chances to study further? B: Usually only 40 percent or lower of junior high school graduates can go to senior high school. Many of them fail in the exam have to go to vocational or technical courses at the senior high level to prepare them for a possible job in the future. Since Chinas employment situation is serious, people usually think that the higher education you have, the better jobs you get. So the exam for senior high school is competitive. Most people think if you fail in this exam, you will not have chance to go to college. A: Can all the senior high school graduates go to college? B: No, they don t. Their chance of getting to college is about three in every five in big cities and that in the countryside is very slim, about one in every ten. Although Chinas higher education has made very rapid progress during the past two decades and a drastic rise was reported in the enrollment of universities and colleges in China, not every person has the opportunity