Directions: Read the following passage and then talk on the following topic for at least 5 minutes. Be sure to make your point clear and supporting details adequate. You should also be ready to answer any questions raised by the examiners during your talk. You need to have your name and registration number recorded. Start your talk with “My name is ...” “My registration number is ...”

Study abroad seems to be one of the hottest trends in today’s society. A lot of graduates choose to get their master's degree overseas instead of in China. Also, “Young overseas Students from China” have increased rapidly in resent years.

Questions for Reference:

Q1: Have you ever considered studying abroad? Why?

Q2: Compared with education models, which one do you prefer? Try to list advantages and disadvantages.

Q3: As mentioned, what’s your opinion in “young overseas students”? 

相关资料1：

10 reasons why you should study in a foreign country

1. Study abroad is the optimal way to learn a language. There is no better and more effective way to learn a language than to be immersed in a culture that speaks the language you are learning. You're surrounded by the language on a daily basis and are seeing and hearing it in the proper cultural context. Language learning happens most quickly under these circumstances.

2. Study abroad provides the opportunity to travel. Weekends and academic breaks allow you to venture out and explore your surroundings - both your immediate and more distant surroundings. Since studying abroad often puts you on a completely different continent, you are much closer to places you might otherwise not have had the opportunity to visit. Some more structured study abroad programs even have field trips planned in or around the curriculum.

3. Study abroad allows you get to know another culture first-hand. Cultural differences are more than just differences in language, food, appearances, and personal habits. A person's culture reflects very deep perceptions, beliefs, and values that influence his or her way of life and the way that s/he views the world. Students who experience cultural differences personally can come to truly understand where other cultures are coming from.

4. Study abroad will help you develop skills and give you experiences a classroom setting will never provide. Being immersed in an entirely new cultural setting is scary at first, but it's also exciting. It's an opportunity to discover new strengths and abilities, conquer new challenges, and solve new problems. You will encounter situations that are wholly unfamiliar to you and will learn to adapt and respond in effective ways.

5. Study abroad affords you the opportunity to make friends around the world. While abroad, you will meet not only natives to the culture in which you are studying, but also other international students who are as far from home as yourself.

6. Study abroad helps you to learn about yourself. Students who study abroad return home with new ideas and perspectives about themselves and their own culture. The experience abroad often challenges them to reconsider their own beliefs and values. The experience may perhaps strengthen those values or it may cause students to alter or abandon them and embrace new concepts and perceptions. The encounter with other cultures enables students to see their own culture through new eyes.

7. Study abroad expands your worldview. In comparison with citizens of most other countries, Americans tend to be uninformed about the world beyond the nation's boundaries. Students who study abroad return home with an informed and much less biased perspective toward other cultures and peoples.

8. Study abroad gives you the opportunity to break out of your academic routine. Study abroad is likely to be much unlike what you are used to doing as a student. You may become familiar with an entirely new academic system and you will have the chance to take courses not offered on your home campus. It's also a great opportunity to break out the monotony of the routine you follow semester after semester.

9. Study abroad enhances employment opportunities. Did you know that only 4% of U.S. undergraduates ever study abroad? Yet, the world continues to become more globalized, American countries are increasingly investing dollars abroad, and companies from countries around the world continue to invest in the international market. Through an employer's seyes, a student who has studied abroad is self-motivated, independent, willing to embrace challenges, and able to cope with diverse problems and situations. Your experience living and studying in a foreign country, negotiating another culture, and acquiring another language will all set you apart from the majority of other job applicants.

10. Study abroad can enhance the value of your degree. While abroad, you can take courses you would never have had the opportunity to take on your home campus. In addition, study abroad gives your language skills such a boost that it is normally quite easy to add a minor in a language or even a second major without having to take many more additional courses after the return to your home campus.

相关资料2：

中国教育在线日前发布《2012年高招调查报告》显示，近4年全国高考人数下降140万，高考中“三放弃”，即放弃报名或考试、放弃志愿填报、放弃报到现象日趋普遍。

　　以高考大省河南为例，高考报名人数今年仅有约82.5万考生报名，4年间共减少16万人。这样的情况也同样发生在其他省市，2008年，全国高考报名人数达到创纪录的1050万人，此后就开始逐年减少，1020万、946万、933万，再到今年的900万。

　　在报考人数连续锐减中，受冲击最大的自然是那些数量庞大的高职高专院校，去年全国各省市就都存在没有完成录取计划的现实。以高考大省山东为例，专科分数线连年下降，2002年专科二批分数线为350分，2010年文理科都只需要190分，去年则只需180分。除此之外，二本一志愿缺额近2万个，近千所院校生源不满，几十所院校遭遇零投档，高职出现了4.2万的生源缺口。难怪有专家预测，未来十年间我国部分高校将面临破产关门的危机。

　　昔日齐挤独木桥，今日为何会锐减？除了适龄人数这个主要原因外，大学毕业生就业难，上大学回报率太低，三本或者是高职高等院校教育质量不高等，也迫使众多考生放弃了高考。

　　国家推行的计划生育政策，直接导致1990年代左右的人数大量减少，在北京、上海、广州等大城市都出现了人口“负增长”。而众多考生放弃高考的原因中，又可以分为几个方面，既有出国热的因素，也有经济的因素，还有一个是社会环境的因素。出国热导致很多高中毕业生直接出国留学；家庭经济比较困难的学生在无力支撑的情况下，选择不读书；社会上广泛存在的“读书无论论”观点导致很多学生将参加高考之后的“毕业就失业”的现状联系起来，从而放弃高考。

　　当然，在面临挑战的同时，高考人数的减少或者也是一种机遇，正所谓“祸兮福所倚”。随着生源总量减少，在教育资源较为集中地区的高校，只能顺势减少本地的招生名额，增加对中西部和不发达地区的投放比例，这种不情愿的选择，恰会逐渐缩小各地招生指标差距，促进高考公平和教育均衡发展。此为机遇之一。

　　而当入学压力减轻，高校也就会有更多空间完善学科发展的基本结构，提升教师队伍水平。研究型大学可进一步在创新机制，培养拔尖人才上下功夫。高职高专院校则不妨加快调整专业的步伐，力求与市场吻合；优化现有主干专业，实行校企深度合作，增强办学生命力等。这样，中国的高等教育结构或许会向着一种资源优化的良性循环方向发展。此为机遇之二。

　　机遇之三则表现在推进高等教育国际化方面。与国外学校相比，国内大学确实存在着教育质量的问题，而教育质量的背后是教育制度问题——学校缺乏办学自主权，没有办法用教育质量或者教育服务来吸引生源等。也正因此，《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要》（2010-2020）才明确提出，“要适时开放中国的高等教育市场，进行必要的高等教育国际化改革的实验。引进国外的优质教育资源为我所用。”只有推进高等教育的国际化才能吸引众多留学生来中国就读，缓解国内生源锐减的现状。

　　总之，高考人数的持续下降是一个不容忽视的问题。因为，无论是处于中国高等教育顶端的高校还是处于夹缝中生存的民办高校，都会面临着“生源危机”。“生源危机”，则考验着中国高等教育的大局以及高等教育改革的成败。