EST holds an TOEFL iBT exhibition in Seattle.               About 500 students across the Chinese mainland will appear for the first Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) exam today. The online exam, with a newly-added speaking section and first initiated in the United States last September, is to replace the written TOEFL test that was introduced to China 25 years ago. The exam will initially be held at 15 centres in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chengdu, offering 500 seats. By the year-end, 10,000 people will have a chance to take the test at 19 centres in the six cities, according to the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS). "With the Internet-based delivery platform, both the number of test centres and the frequency of tests will increase significantly compared to five paper-based TOEFL tests offered annually," said Paul Ramsey, senior vice-president of ETS' international development department. The 18 tests this year could increase to as many as 40 next year, he said. ETS figures show that the Chinese now account for about 10 per cent of its global TOEFL examinees -- the most in the world -- and the number is growing. Last year, about 90,000 Chinese students took the test, according to China's National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA), which helps ETS administer it in China. Ramsey explained that the technology used in iBT permits test items to be delivered to ETS from sites worldwide, thus increasing the already-high security. "It also ensures unbiased testing by recording responses in the speaking section electronically and sending them to a network of ETS human raters, who objectively score the responses for maximum reliability," he said. So, how tough is the new test? Students believe it will be more challenging because of the new speaking section. "Speaking is generally considered the Achilles' heel of Chinese students," said Li Ding, a TOEFL teacher with New Oriental School, China's biggest English-training institute. He said many of his students rushed to take the last several written TOEFL exams to avoid the new one. (China Daily)

今天，中國大陸的近500名考生將參加首場托福網考。 托福網考于去年9月首次在美國開始舉行，新考試加入了口語測試單元，在中國大陸實行了25年之久的紙筆形式的托福考試宣告結束。 首場托福網考在北京、上海、廣州、天津、杭州和成都六個城市開設了15個考點，共500個座位。 據美國教育考試服務中心介紹，到今年年底，這六個城市的考點將增加到19個，考生也將增加到1萬個。 美國教育考試服務中心全球發展部高級副總裁保羅·拉姆西說：“過去的托福紙筆考是每年五次，新一代托福考試主要以網絡傳輸為平臺，其考點數量和考試頻率將會大大增加。” 他說：“今年將在中國大陸安排18次托福網考，明年可能會達到40場。” 據美國教育考試服務中心數據顯示，每年參加托福考試的中國考生數量占全球考生的10％，居全世界第一，而且這個數字還在不斷增加。 據美國教育考試服務中心合作伙伴中國教育部考試中心介紹，去年，近9萬名中國學生參加了托福考試。 拉姆西說，新一代的托福考試依靠相關技術將世界各地考點的試卷傳輸到教育考試服務中心總部，所以考試的安全性也進一步提高。 他說：“口語考試單元主要采用電子錄音的方式將聲音錄下，再將其傳輸至ETS總部的人工評分網絡，最后由考官統一聽取打分，這也保證了考試的公平公正性。” 那么，新托福考試有多難呢？考生們認為口語測試的加入將會提高考試的難度。 中國最大的英語培訓機構新東方學校的托福老師李丁說：“口語是中國學生的一個普遍弱點。” 他說，為了避開新托福考試，很多學生爭相參加最后幾場托福紙筆考。 (英語點津姍姍編輯)