(CNN) -- Jay Lin is the embodiment of the American dream -- and what is increasingly a Chinese dream.
-- 林杰很好的代表了美国梦的实现，或许更确切的说是一个中国梦的实现。
Originally from Wenzhou in eastern China, he moved to New York City as a teenager. After earning degrees from Ivy League universities -- Cornell and Columbia -- he secured a comfortable job in a bucolic town in Connecticut.
出生在华东温州，林杰十几岁时就移居纽约。获得常春藤学校——康奈尔大学和哥伦比亚大学——的学位之后，他在康涅狄格州一座诗情画意的小镇上找到一份安稳的工作。
Now he is helping others in China follow his path, where the desire for elite U.S. education is alive and well.
现在，他在帮助中国同胞们前往美国追逐他们的美国梦。在中国，能到美国获得精英教育的渴望在蓬勃发展着。
In the last decade, mainland Chinese have reshaped the international student body at U.S. colleges and universities, notably at Ivy League institutions. In the 2009-2010 academic year, China surpassed traditional "study abroad" heavyweights like Canada, India and South Korea, to lead international enrollment across U.S. higher education, according to the Institute of International Education. The U.S.-based institute's most recent figures reveal that mainland Chinese students increased 23% to more than 723, 000 in the 2010-11 academic year.
过去十年来，大批中国内地学生蜂涌到美国的高等教育机构（尤其是长春藤教育院校），成为美国国际留学生的主力军。根据国际教育协会数据，在2009-2010学年，中国首超加拿大、印度和韩国等传统的出国留学国，成为美国高等教育中国际学生录取人数的首位。国际教育协会最近的数据表明，中国内地学生人数在2010-11学年增加了23%，超过72.3万人。
A rising generation of affluent students
新一代富裕学生的异军突起
While Chinese students traditionally went abroad when they failed to secure a place at a top-tier local university, the best students are now forgoing elite Chinese universities to study in the United States, according to Lin, now academic director of Ivy Labs Education, an admissions consultancy in Beijing.
一家北京招生咨询机构——长春藤教育现任学术总监林杰说，虽然过去中国学生出国读书是因为他们没有考取到国内的顶尖大学，但现在的情况是最优秀的学生宁愿放弃入读中国名校而选择留学美国。
Many Chinese are seeking a higher quality of education that will train them to become independent and creative, he said, and they see the world's top-ranked universities are in the United States.
他说，许多中国学生们追求的是更高质的教育，可以培养他们成为独立的、创新的个体，而这些学生了解到世界顶尖的大学在美国。
China's economic reforms and "opening-up" that began in 1978 under Deng Xiaoping gave rise to the first major generation of students, who were generally reliant on scholarships to study in the United States, according to Chen Shuangye, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Department of Educational Administration and Policy.
香港中文大学教育行政与政策学系助理教授陈霜叶说，1978年在邓小平领导下，中国的经济改革和开放带出了第一代留学生主力军，他们主要依靠奖学金才得以留学美国。
Coinciding with China's rapid economic growth, a distinctive second generation emerged in the mid-1990s comprising much more affluent students, Chen said. "There is a great increase in the phenomenon because (mainland Chinese) don't rely on scholarships anymore."
随着中国的快速经济增长，第二代留学生出现在二十世纪九十年代中期，与前一代不同，他们由更多家里更有钱的学生组成。“这一现象大幅增加，因为（中国内地的）学生们不再需要依靠奖学金作为经济支柱了。”
Starting early at boarding schools
早入寄宿学校有书读
The factors driving mainland Chinese to study in the United States come into play much earlier, Lin said, noting an influx of foreign Chinese students into private U.S. secondary schools, starting around 2005.
林杰说，刺激中国内地学生前往美国读书的诱因提前到中学阶段了，他注意到从2005年开始，不少中国留学生入读美国的私立中学。
Chinese parents send their children to private U.S. high schools as a "strategic decision" to strengthen their candidacy for elite U.S. universities, Lin said. A growing number also want their children to lead happier lives rather than have them consumed by preparing for the "gaokao" in China -- the one-time, high-stakes national university entrance examination that is the sole determinant of admission.
中国的父母们把送自己孩子到美国私立中学读书看作为增加录入美国名校机率的“战略决定”。更有一部分家长们也希望孩子能够过得更开心，而不是眼睁睁看着他们为了准备高考这场“一考定终生”的全国大学入学考试而长期彻夜奋读。
"The goal of education in mainland China is to prepare you to take the gaokao. Everything else is secondary. In China, you would put the gaokao in the center...whereas...in American education, you put the student in the center, and everything else serves the best interests of the student. It's not exclusively about (getting into) college."
“在中国内地，高中教育的目标就是高考。其他事儿都属其次。在中国，高考就是中心；但在美国教育当中，学生才是中心，其他事儿都要以学生的利益为出发点。考入大学并非唯一出路。”
While U.S. boarding schools desire Chinese students both for their dollars and diversity, they walk a "very fine line...when it comes to recruiting Chinese students, " said Lin, who assisted with admissions during his tenure teaching at Connecticut's Cheshire Academy.
林杰在康涅狄格州柴郡中学任教时曾协助招生工作，他说，尽管美国寄宿学校因为学费和多样性的原因都喜欢招收中国学生，不过这些学校“在招收中国学生时都会采取折衷方式”。
Boarding schools typically admit four to five students of any foreign nationality per grade level, with international students comprising up to 20% of the overall student body, Lin said. With about 100 students for each of the four grade levels, this means admitting a maximum of 20 mainland Chinese, or five percent of the student body.
寄宿学校一般每年级招收四到五名外籍学生，国际学生人数占全体学生总数的20%。四个年级中如果每年级有大约100名学生，就意味着最多招收20名中国内地留学生，或总学生人数的5%。
"A school could easily fill itself with all Chinese students, but no school's going to do that...It's a double-edged sword -- if you have too many Chinese, then the Chinese will stop coming to your school, and also, Americans will stop coming to your school."
“一所学校可以随便地将所有外籍学生名额都留给中国学生，但是任何学校都不会这样做... ...这是一把双刃剑——如果你招了太多中国学生，那么中国学生就不会申请到你的学校读书，而且美国本地学生也不想来你的学校。”
Driving international enrollment at U.S. universities
推动美国大学的国际招生
By virtue of their size, U.S. universities can accept a much higher number of Chinese students than boarding schools.
由于大学的面积比较大，所以相比寄宿中学，美国的大学可以招收更多的中国留学生。
Since 1999, China was the second leading place of origin for international students at Harvard, trailing only Canada. Its student numbers steadily increased to lead Harvard's international enrollment since the last academic year, with 686 students currently enrolled (nearly 16% of the international student body.)
自1999年以来，中国留学生人数在哈佛大学国际留学生人数当中排第二位，紧跟加拿大留学生人数之后。从上一学年开始，中国留学生人数稳步攀升到哈佛大学国际招生人数的首位，现有686名注册中国留学生（占国际留学生总数的16%左右）。
China similarly dominates international enrollment at other Ivy League schools, including Yale and Princeton.
同样，在其他长春藤学校（包括耶鲁大学和普林斯顿大学）的国际招生人数中，中国留学生仍然是领头大军。
"International students are seen very favorably as whole, as a way to diversify and really become a global institution, " said Rachel Rubin, a lecturer at Boston's Emmanuel College and a specialist in higher education admissions policy.
波士顿以玛利学院讲师兼高等教育招生政策专家蕾切尔·鲁宾称：“总体来讲，国际留学生很受宠，因为这样不单可以增加学生的多样性，还可以让学校成为名符其实的国际教育机构。”
"Also economically -- it's very advantageous for elite schools to admit international students because the bulk of them can pay full tuition, " she added. As such, there is "a lot of favoritism" toward such students, as financial aid budgets have been cut over the last decade, she said.
她补充道：“其次，在经济方面，招收国际留学生的精英学校会因此得益，因为他们当中大部分人都可以支付全额学费。”由于过去十年财政资助预算被削减，因而学校很看重这些留学生所带来的收益。
Limits to international enrollment at U.S. universities
美国大学国际招生的限制
But while mainland Chinese students dominate international enrollment, they comprise a small fraction of the overall student body. This is even more the case at the undergraduate level, as most international students are graduates.
不过，虽然中国内地学生是国际留学生的主力军，在学生总人数上，中国学生只占很小的百分比。这一情况在大学本科生中更甚，因为大多数国际留学生都是本科已毕业的。
Harvard has "no quotas or limits for international students, " according to Harvard spokesperson Kevin Galvin. "All students are considered in the same pool for all places in the incoming class, regardless of citizenship or the school they attend."
哈佛大学发言人凯文·高尔文称，哈佛大学“对国际留学生没有设定限额或限制。在新招收的班级当中，所有的学生，无论国籍还是他们的就读学校，一律一视同仁。”
Rubin said she has not come across evidence of undergraduate quotas for international students but found it was standard practice for top-ranked schools to assess them as a separate pool rather than with the entire pool of applicants.
鲁宾说她没有见到过国际留学生中有本科生限额的例子，不过在顶尖学校中，把本科生分开评测、而不是对所有申请者统一评测则是标准惯例。
Some U.S. colleges and universities aim to recruit an undergraduate cohort with around 10% international students, according to Susan Joan Mauriello, founder of the Hong-Kong-based ApplyIvy consultancy, adding that the percentage depends on the strength of the applicant pool.
香港Applylvy咨询公司创立者苏珊·琼·马里奥称，一些美国院校和大学旨在本科生中招收大概10%的留学生，并补充说这一百分比取决于申请者的实力。
Bringing U.S. education to China
将美国教育带到中国
As U.S. campuses cannot fully support the demand from China, Lin sees an opportunity in bringing international education to China, beginning at the secondary level.
看着美国校园无法完全满足中国的需求，林杰瞄准了把国际教育资源引进中国的机会，把起点设在中学。
The trend can already be seen in U.S. universities establishing local degree-granting branches. Next September, New York University will welcome its first undergraduate cohort at its new Shanghai campus.
这一趋势已在美国出现，许多美国大学设立了当地的学位授予分支。明年九月，纽约大学将在其新设的上海校区迎来首批本科生。
"Instead of sending Chinese students to secondary schools in America or other foreign countries, we want to bring international curriculum into China so they don't need to travel outside the country, " Lin said. He helps local high schools incorporate international systems, such as the International Baccalaureate and A-Levels, alongside Chinese curriculum.
林杰说：“与其将中国学生送往美国或其他国家的中学就读，我们想将国际课程带来中国，那么学生们就无需跑到国外了。”他帮助当地的高中在继续中国课程的同时引入国际教育制度，如国际学位和英国普通教育文凭高级考试（A-Level）。
Students at these "Chinese versions of international schools" are typically Chinese nationals, who are restricted by government policy from attending full-fledged international schools, which cater to expatriates.
在这些“国际学校中国校区”就读的学生通常是中国公民，他们受政府政策限制不能入读那些出国留学生可以进入的正式国际学校就读。
"My dream is to see international schools in China accessible to Chinese citizens and other nationalities together in the same school, " Lin said. "That's the future."
“我的梦想是看到中国的国际学校能招收到中国人和外国人在一起读书，”林杰说，“这就是未来！”
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