1. Five waves of immigration
In the past 100 years, there have been five waves of immigration in China:
The first labor migration, which began in the late 19th century and lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, caused many compatriots to leave their homes and go to the United States and Canada to work in manual labor, such as railroad construction and mining.
These migrants often face extremely difficult living conditions and unfair treatment, but they have created better living conditions for themselves and their families.
The second wave of migration occurred in the 40s and 60s of the 20th century, and the turmoil in the country led to the emergence of a group of immigrants.
Most of them came from the intellectual and elite classes, chose to emigrate, and received job training in different fields overseas, becoming an important force in the construction of New China abroad.
After the reform and opening up, there were three more waves of immigration on the mainland.
The third wave of emigration was after the end of the "10-year catastrophe," and in the difficult environment of going abroad, a fiery enthusiasm for going abroad broke out.
Perhaps the biggest demand of this time is the desperate desire to get rid of chronic poverty;
The fourth is the wave of immigration, which can also be called the "tide of studying abroad", which began at the end of the 80s of the last century, when after more than ten years of reform and opening up, through the spread of film and television books, people's perception of overseas is no longer just "evil capitalism", but to the other extreme, the way of life, ideology and culture of developed countries deeply attracted Chinese young people at that time.
The biggest appeal of this immigrant is probably the extremely beautiful imagination of overseas life.
The fifth wave of migration has continued since 2010.
Different from the previous four waves, the people who went abroad this time do not have so much blind imagination overseas, and basically belong to the people who have to go abroad for vacation and business trips every year, and their wealth, knowledge, and insight belong to the middle and upper classes of society, that is, the two types of people that Mr. Yi Zhongtian said - wealth elite and intellectual elite.
Nowadays, people have more diverse reasons for immigration, and if you have to find one of the biggest demands, it should probably be "a sense of security" and "comfortable experience".
2. Half of the class is taking the GRE
On the night when Zhang Suli delivered something to me, I was shocked and a little upset and even at a loss when I accidentally mentioned the topic of GRE.
Of the more than 50 students in the two classes of our graduate students, half of them are preparing for the GRE test.
GRE全称是Graduate Record Examination，指的是美国研究生入学考试，但凡想出国留学的，都要考GRE，GRE总分340分，分数越高越好。
The four people in our dormitory were not prepared for the GRE test at first, feeling that we were still far away and had little interest in going abroad.
Lao Dong and Lao Chen went home on the weekend, and Xiao Bie was newlywed;
Lao Wang is a little free to figure out how to make a little money, his work-study method is very different from others, relying on metalwork, three days and two ends to run to the back of the school-run factory, do some cars, pliers, milling, calcining, riveting, welding and other "rough and stupid work", and later with this foundation, graduate school, stayed in the school-run factory, after the transformation of the school-run factory, he became the deputy chief engineer.
I tutored 3 times a week, originally said that I didn't want to do it, or was pestered by the parents of two students in the summer vacation, asking to teach for a while, fortunately, the road is not far, and the teaching is also familiar, and the money I earn is of course not as violent as in the summer vacation, but the daily living expenses are also enough.
Our class of 1999 students are divided into 10 dormitories, and the number of current and former students is exactly half, and each dormitory has its own characteristics, some like to play computer games, some like to watch videos, some like to go out and play sports, some like to play cards, and some dormitories are empty on weekends.
Two months after enrolling, I found that the dormitory of several fresh graduates was "wrong" - every day after dinner, the dormitory was empty, and they all mysteriously went to study at night.
No homework, no exams, why is it so energetic that I go to self-study at night?
Later, I learned that several of their dormitories were taking the GRE like a competition, buying all kinds of vocabulary books collectively and ordering cram schools at NTU, urging each other to study, and working late every day.
I remembered that at the beginning of the semester, a professor at the University of Delaware, who was also an early student of Academician Shi Jun, gave a lecture to everyone in the academy, encouraging everyone to go abroad while they are young, not only to improve their international vision and language communication skills, to obtain foreign academic resources, but also to broaden their horizons, enhance their comprehensive strength, and improve the competitiveness of future employment.
As one of the four major majors of "biotechnology and environmental materials", it is relatively easy to take the GRE to study abroad, because foreign students are not very willing to study these science and engineering subjects, and most of the graduate students in this direction are from East Asia.
And Nanhua (Nanjing University of Technology), and Beihua (Beijing University of Chemical Technology), Huahua (East China University of Science and Technology), Qinghua (Qingdao University of Science and Technology), Wuhua (Wuhan Institute of Technology), Shenhua (Shenyang University of Chemical Technology), Zhengzhou Institute of Technology (Zhengzhou University), Jihua (Jilin University), Nanjing Power College (merged into Nanjing Normal University), Lianyungang Chemical College (merged into Huaihai Institute of Technology) and other former universities directly under the Ministry of Chemical Industry, because of hard-working, solid professional foundation, is still quite popular. Through the mentoring and introduction of seniors in the past, as long as the GRE score is okay, they can go out with a full or half scholarship one by one, and a small trend is formed at that time.
Although the school does not rank well in the province and the country, a large proportion of undergraduates and graduate students majoring in chemical engineering, materials and biochemical engineering go abroad every year, and most of them go to the top 50 universities in the United States.
After all, after students study abroad, after gaining a firm foothold, they can grow their skills and bring some resources to the school, such as the disciples of Academician Shi Jun, who have begun to give back to their alma mater.
When I was surprised to tell Lao Dong, Lao Chen, and Lao Wang that nearly half of the people in the class were taking the GRE and preparing for going abroad, they were noncommittal, and Lao Wang muttered, "Bachelors are the most suitable for taking the GRE, do you see that we are suitable for going abroad?" It's hard to feed yourself. ”
"And who said that? Foreign cars, pliers, milling, calcining, riveting, welding, must be more expensive than domestic handicrafts, Lao Wang should go out the most, that is a senior blue-collar worker, the monthly salary is thousands of dollars..... After going out, I just got rid of the clutches of Sister-in-law Wang, lived again, and multiplied, how good is it? ”
Said "shaking head lion" Lao Wang laughed and couldn't stop shaking his head in agreement.
Lao Dong and Lao Chen were addicted to the gentle hometown at that time, so naturally they would not consider going abroad, and they worked hard to take the GRE test, another excuse was that they were old and didn't want to toss.
3. Prepare for the GRE
During that time, I was so excited by the idea of taking the GRE that I couldn't sleep, I wanted to follow the trend of the test, improve my English ability, and make use of my free time in graduate school, but I was afraid that I would invest more, spend a lot of time and energy, and I couldn't pass the test, so I was more anxious.
Some people say that the GRE test is difficult because the reading test is complex, the time is tight, and the score is high, which requires candidates to have strong language skills and reasoning skills. The math section may be relatively easy, but the Chinese part is more difficult and requires good English reading and writing skills, and vocabulary mastery is key.
In addition, psychological factors can also affect the performance of candidates. Candidates need to be fully prepared, master the examination skills, arrange their time reasonably, do more exercises, and master different question types and solution methods in order to achieve satisfactory results.
It is also said that the GRE test is not difficult, but it requires candidates to have strong language skills and grammatical knowledge, as well as familiarity with vocabulary. The difficulty of the exam mainly depends on the candidate's individual ability and level of preparation.
If candidates have enough time to prepare, and have good study habits, it is not difficult to pass the GRE test.
During that time, I deliberately waited for a few dormitory students who were taking the GRE to return late after 10 o'clock in the evening, and took advantage of the time to wash up and chat with them, asking them about the difficulty, necessity, method, and time schedule of the GRE test.
Chen Hui is the oldest and most diligent one in our class to take the GRE test, every day when he gets up early and returns late, he turns the word books to the edges, and when he pats it gently, it is all kinds of confetti that does Brownian sports in the sun.
He was born in 1972, worked in a foreign company for a few years, and also stayed in the United States for a short period of 2 months, from the second day after the end of the graduate school entrance examination, he began to memorize GRE words, he is not smiling, honest, usually busy has no time to gag in the dormitory, back to the dormitory is to wash and sleep.
On that day, he solemnly said to me, "It's your own business whether you take the GRE or not, you should combine your own interests and life plans, go your own way, don't care what others say, how many times can you have in life?" Today's self, let tomorrow's self not regret it. The world is so big, you don't want to see it? ”
Yes, it's good to take a look, at least you can expand your vocabulary, fill in the empty and boring time, and prove to Xiao Jia that as long as she wants to take the test, her GRE score will not be worse than her undergraduate boyfriend.
After I reported to my Taiwanese uncle about the life and study of graduate school after the start of the semester, I told him that I also wanted to prepare for the GRE exam and challenge myself, at least make use of the leisure time at the beginning of the semester, and not let the time be wasted.
My uncle encouraged me in his letter, saying that he didn't understand if he didn't study abroad, and he didn't understand it, "I don't teach for a day", and he agreed, since he worked hard and returned to campus.
My uncle wanted to offer to continue to support me, and I told him the news that the tutor earned 20,000 5 yuan in the summer and the details of income and expenditure, so that he was completely relieved and no longer worried about my financial problems.
Whether to take the GRE test, I also told the second uncle's brother Ya, he has a negative attitude towards this, he said, "You are the only child at home, you go abroad, what should I do with my uncle and aunt?" If you have the ability, you will also have good development in China. ”
Lao Gu and Sister Min supported me, they said, you get the test results first, don't let the wild goose come down yet, just consider whether the stew tastes good or spicy?
At the beginning of November 1999, I bought all the books for the first stage from the Shanxi Road Provincial Book Market, and went to self-study with Lao Zheng and Xiaoye every night to start preparing for the GRE.
Talking about Xiao Ye and Lao Zheng, the two brothers who are admitted to graduate school in our dormitory, it is also difficult to say.
(To be continued)
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