考了一千年的试

学校门口今天特别安静，路也不让车过，是发生什么事了吗？

It's unusually quiet outside the school today, and cars aren't allowed through. Did something happen?

今天是高考的第一天。这几天全国的学生都在考试，学校附近的路都会安静一点，让考生别着急，别紧张。

Today is the first day of the gaokao. For the next few days, students all over the country are taking it. The roads near schools stay quiet like this so the test-takers won't feel rushed or nervous.

一个考试能让这么多人都这么认真，这在我的国家没有过。为什么这一个考试这么重要？

A single exam getting this many people to take it this seriously, that's never happened in my country. Why does this one exam matter so much?

因为这不是最近才有的事。差不多一千三百年前，中国就已经有了一种叫科举制度的东西，用考试选人进政府工作。

Because this isn't something recent. About thirteen hundred years ago, China already had something called the keju system, which used exams to choose people for government work.

一千三百年？那时候的人也可以像现在这样，随便考一考，考得好就能进政府工作吗？

Thirteen hundred years ago? Could people back then just take the test, the same way, and get into government work if they did well?

对，这就是科举最有意思的地方。在那以前，能进政府工作的，一般都是家里本来就有钱有关系的人。科举制度出来以后，一个农民的儿子，只要考试考得好，也能进政府工作，改变自己的一生。农民的儿子和有钱人的儿子，考的是同样的题。

Right, that's the interesting part about the keju. Before it existed, the people who could work in government were usually already from rich, well-connected families. After the keju system existed, a farmer's son, if he did well on the exam, could also work in government and change his whole life. A farmer's son and a rich man's son took the exact same questions.

这样听起来很公平啊，跟我以前想的古代不太一样。

That sounds pretty fair, and pretty different from what I used to think about ancient times.

也公平，也很辛苦。考生要把很多古代的书都记住，还要一个人关在一个小房间里，一考就是好几天，中间不能出去，不能跟别人说话。

It was fair, and it was also brutal. Test-takers had to memorize a lot of ancient texts, and they'd be shut alone in a small room to take the test for several days straight, unable to leave or talk to anyone in between.

一个人关在小房间里考好几天？这样考试，压力是不是也太大了？

Shut alone in a small room for several days? Taking a test that way, doesn't that put way too much pressure on people?

确实很大。但是它对每一个考生都一样，不管你家里有钱没钱，进的都是同样的小房间，用的都是同样的时间，考的都是同样的题。这就是它公平的地方，也是很多人到现在都认为高考公平的原因。

It really was. But it was the same for every test-taker. Whether your family had money or not, you went into the same kind of room, got the same amount of time, and took the same questions. That's what made it fair, and it's also why a lot of people still think the gaokao is fair today.

那你自己觉得呢？一次考试，真的能公平地决定一个人以后能不能进好大学、能不能有好工作吗？

So what do you actually think? Can one single exam really fairly decide whether someone gets into a good university or gets a good job later?

我也说不好。它比古代只看家里有没有关系公平多了，谁都能考，题也一样。可是农民的孩子和城市的孩子，考试前准备的条件本来就不一样，这个考试没办法看出来。

I honestly can't say. It's much fairer than the old system where it only depended on your family's connections, anyone can take it, and the questions are the same. But a farmer's kid and a city kid don't start with the same conditions before the exam, and this test has no way of showing that.

这么说，这个问题从科举制度那个时候就已经有了，一直到今天的高考，也还没有一个大家都同意的答案。

So this problem has been around since the days of the keju system, and even today, with the gaokao, there still isn't an answer everyone agrees on.

对，这就是为什么每年考试的时候，路会安静，大家也会认真地讨论这个问题。一千年了，我们还在问同一件事：一个考试，到底能不能公平地看出一个人。

Right, that's why every year when the exam happens, the roads go quiet and people seriously discuss this question. A thousand years later, we're still asking the same thing: can one exam really fairly show who a person is.