数观 | 疫情下的高考
沈玥是中国北方的一名普通高中生，近几个月来，她一直在为高考焦虑。
Over the past months, Shen Yue, a high school senior in northern China, has grown increasingly fidgety with the national college entrance exam, known colloquially as Gaokao, around the corner.
By Tuesday, she will be one of the 10.7 million students to sit for the make-or-break annual examination, which has been postponed for a month because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, she has joined an army of students from all grades to learn remotely.
"Her winter holiday, which started from January 19, should have ended on January 29. But the outbreak messed up the whole thing," said her mother. In early February, Shen's school, a top-notch high school in Hebei Province, quickly moved to online teaching, which lasted for nearly three months.
网课每天早上七点半开始，下午六点结束。然后，沈玥会做作业到深夜。但在家上课毕竟与在校学习有很大的不同，“对于像她这样缺乏自律的学生来说，这样度过高考前关键的几个月简直就是一场灾难，”沈玥的母亲告诉我们。
沈玥所在的高中于4月23日复课。回校后，老师加快了上课速度，安排了更多的练习和考试，这让她花了更多的时间来适应。
Moreover, it took Shen more time to adapt to on-campus life that resumed on April 23, particularly as teachers accelerated the speed for lessons and arranged more tests.
今年，约有1071万考生报名参加高考，达到了历史高峰。此外，各大高校的招生人数也有所增加。
疫情造成的种种困难加剧了这些学生的学习难度。长时间在屏幕前上课、做题给很多学生造成了视力问题，而疫情期间的日常生活，比如经常性的测体温和核酸检测，也给这些中国年轻人的心理带来了沉重负担。
This year, about 10.71 million students have registered for the annual college entrance exam, also known as the Gaokao, reaching a historical peak. Also, the enrollment of higher education institutions has increased.
Difficulties in the era of COVID-19 have contributed to these learning obstacles. Taking lessons and doing problems in front of a screen for extended periods have caused vision problems for many students, while the everyday realities during the pandemic such as the constant taking of temperatures and nucleic acid testing has placed a great burden on the psychology of these Chinese youths.
Despite living in uncertain times, the Gaokao remains an inescapable fact for students in the country. The news at the end of March that the dreaded standardized exam would be postponed for a month only put greater strain on Shen and her family. "She's too stressed," according to her worrying parents. "The psychological pressure has caused her to suffer headaches, stomachaches and other physical complaints from time to time."
The tension has spread to the entire family. Even Shen's grandparents have been under constant pressure as she scores lower marks on every examination leading up to the most important test that would change many destinies. There's a saying among high school teachers that the Gaokao score is kind of an average of the four exams preceding the final one.
Meanwhile, during the examination period, students and teachers must live on campus. When Shen has some free time, she calls her parents to keep them up to date.
“所有人在一条船上”
中国山东省的一名高考生，王超，因为一场手术在医院里住了十几天。在他看来，比起一个人在家学习，有老师和同学在身边相互督促显然更有氛围。
山东是高考大省，报考人数多，分数线高，不少山东学子放低了他们对理想大学的期望值。对王超和他的同学来说，每一次模考都像在做过山车。但对于他们，高考推迟一个月其实没什么影响，毕竟“所有人都在一条船上”。
For Wang Chao, a 20-year-old high school student in east China's Shandong Province, underwent surgery and stayed in the hospital for over a dozen days. "I've been on a hectic schedule to catch up. But still I can't concentrate alone at home," he told CGTN. "Something isn't right here. Perhaps I need teachers present and my classmates, too, to fuel a sense of urgency. It's easy to slack off."
Shandong is known for cultivating talents with high cut-off scores on the world's most formidable examination. But many of the students there have lowered their expectations regarding their dream universities. For Wang and his peers, they've been riding a roller coaster as they switch from offline to online and back to offline again. But the one-month extension makes little difference to him. "Everyone's in the same boat."
随着国内的新冠疫情渐渐得到控制，数百万在家上了两个多月网课的学生们从4月份开始陆续返回校园。3月31日，教育部宣布今年的高考将推迟一个月至7月7日至8日，这是自1977年恢复高考以来首次更改考试日期。
教育部表示，此次考试将是自新冠疫情暴发以来规模最大的一次有组织的公共活动，推迟考试将有助于降低数百万学生面临的健康风险。截至7月初，新冠肺炎病例在国内大部分地区有所减少，仅在少数大城市和港口城市出现零星病例。这一决定也推动了教育平等——许多贫困地区的学生由于网络连接不完善而跟不上网课进度，推迟高考将有助于缩小教育差距。
Millions of students began taking online courses at home starting February and returned to campus starting April as coronavirus cases dwindled.
On March 31, the Ministry of Education announced that this year's Gaokao will be pushed back one month to July 7-8 – the first time the dates for this exam have been changed since it resumed in 1977 after it was suspended for a decade during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
The exam will be the largest organized public event since the coronavirus outbreak, according to the ministry, and the postponement will help lower the health risk posed to the millions of students. By early July, new COVID-19 cases dwindled in most parts of the country, with sporadic ones surging in a few metropolises and port cities. Concern over education equality also contributed to the decision. Postponing the one-off exam will help decrease the gap in education as many students in impoverished regions were left behind in online learning due to patchy internet connection.
As for Shen, the Gaokao is a ticket to her dream of studying medicine. But the disruptions have upended her preparations for the exam, since medical universities usually require high scores.
"I hope she can be a 'dark horse,'" her mother said. What could drag Shen's family back from the psychological brink might be the upcoming holiday – the fortnight before the scores come out.
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