◎張沛元
As a ninth-grader, Shanghai’s Li Sixin spent more than three hours on homework a night and took tutorials in math, physics and chemistry on the weekends. When she was tapped to take an exam last year given to half a million students around the world, Li breezed through it.
身為9年級學生，上海的李思欣（譯音）晚上花超過3小時做功課，週末還要上數學、物理與化學的家教班。當她去年獲選參加一項全球有50萬名學子應考的考試時，李思欣輕鬆過關。
"I felt the test was just easy, " said Li, who was a student at Shanghai Wenlai Middle School at the time and now attends high school. "The science part was harder... but I can handle that."
「我覺得那考試很簡單，」當時是上海文來中學學生、如今已上高中的李思欣說。「科學部份比較難…但我還應付得來。」
Those long hours focused on schoolwork _ and a heavy emphasis on test-taking skills _ help explain why young students like Li in China’s financial hub once again dominated an international test to 15-year-olds called the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA.
花長時間做功課，以及重視應考技能，有助於解釋何以像身在中國金融重鎮的李思欣這樣的年輕學子，再一次稱霸一項讓15歲學生參與的國際性考試「國際學生能力評量計畫」，或「PISA」。
Students from Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan _ all from Asia _ were right behind.
來自香港、新加坡、台灣、南韓與日本—全都是亞洲國家—的學生緊追在後。
新聞辭典
tutorial：名詞，個別指導，家教。tutor，名詞，家教老師；動詞，指導，當家教。
breeze through：形容迅速又輕鬆地做好某事，不費吹灰之力，輕鬆過關。例句：She breezed through her homework in no time at all.（她很快就輕鬆做完她的功課了。）
right behind：（字面意義）隨後，緊接著；（引申意義）支持（+ somebody）。例句：I am right behind you.（我就在你後面／我挺你。）
文章出處：<a href="http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/">自由時報電子報中英對照新聞
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