Trying: China’s university-entrance exams 迎难而上：中国高考 Around 10m Chinese pupils believe Friday and Saturday will be among the most important days of their lives, and they may be right. They will spend those days at gruelling national university-entrance exams, called gaokao. The results—and little else besides—will determine which universities they may attend and thus their employment prospects. Before these stressful days came stressful years of relentlessly focused cramming. Critics decry the rigid emphasis on memorisation over creative thinking or collaborative learning. Authorities acknowledge this flaw, but change has been slow. Officials are, however, keen to help mitigate the ordeal, issuing nationwide orders to “co-ordinate on noise control, sanitary and epidemic prevention, and heatstroke prevention” near exam sites. Officials are also cracking down on a particular set of creative problem-solvers: so-called “gaokao migrants”. The best universities have regional quotas, so some chancers try to boost their hopes by finagling test slots in less competitive environments away from their homes. 大约1000万名中国学生相信，本周五和周六将是他们人生中最重要的日子之一，他们或许是对的。 这两天他们将经历令人筋疲力尽的全国大学入学考试，也就是高考。 单单是考试成绩，几乎就能决定他们可能就读哪一所大学，并由此影响他们未来的就业前景。 而在这压力重重的日子到来之前，他们已经历了数年持续性、高强度的应试学习。 批评人士谴责高考过度死板地强调记忆力，而忽略了创造性思维或合作式学习。 尽管官方也承认这一缺陷，但改变总是十分缓慢。 不过官员们很热衷于帮助考生们减轻痛苦，他们发布全国性规定，要求各地在考场附近“统一协调噪音控制、卫生防疫及预防中暑等工作”。 官方还在专门打击一类颇具创造性的问题解决者，也就是所谓的“高考移民”。 由于顶尖高校在各地有招生定额，一些投机者便背井离乡，前往那些竞争没那么激烈的地区骗取考位，试图以此提高录取几率。
