导读:12月24日，大学生们的“年终大戏”――2017年全国硕士研究生招生考试拉开序幕。作为在职研究生纳入统考的第一年，全国研究生招生数据有了新变化。
The qualifying exam for Chinese postgraduate candidates in 2017 started on Saturday, lasting for two days.
12月24日，为期两天的2017年全国硕士研究生招生考试拉开帷幕。
Candidates for the 2017 academic year have increased greatly, according to a report on China’s biggest educational website on Dec 21st.
据中国教育网在12月21日报道，今年参加研究生考试的考生数量相比之前有大幅度增长。
In Jiangsu, Beijing and Liaoning province, the rate of increase was over 20%, with the overall national growth rate being about 20%.
全国整体增长率为20%左右，但江苏、北京和辽宁等省市的报名人数均出现了20%以上的增幅。
The report also mentioned that master degrees at top universities in China, participants of the 985 and 211 projects, are popular. For example, the number of candidates at Shandong University rose by nearly 29% compared with last year.
报道还提到“985”“211”重点高校研究生报名人数居高不下，例如，报考山东大学的人数相比去年上涨了29%。
From 2010 to 2015, masters for engineering accepted the most students, followed by management and medicine. Student numbers for literature, philosophy and history dropped slightly.
报告显示，从2010年到2015年硕士研究生各学科招生情况来看，工学招生所占比重最大，其次是管理、医学。文学、哲学、历史学招生规模保持平稳甚至有所下降。
As for the reasons given for going for a masters degree, 35% of respondents said it’s "not easy to get a job with a bachelor degree," followed by "further education" (31%).
至于考生们报考研究生的原因，35%的被调查者表示“本科生就业压力大，研究生学位可提高竞争力”，31%的被调查者则表动机为“继续深造，提高学术研究能力”。
In China, some excellent students can be granted an exemption from writing the admission exam. However, 66% of students disagree with the policy, with only 25% agreeing, said the report.
据报道，国内一部分优秀本科生可以获得免试推荐的资格。然而，约有66%的学生不同意该推免政策，只有25%的学生对此持支持态度。
The report showed that since 2014, the number of students who did not need to take the exam for top universities was increasing every year, with the percentage for some important majors being over 90%, or even 100%.
据报道，从2014年起，名校及优质专业推免生比例逐年攀升，大量国家重点专业学科推免生比例超过九成，甚至达100%。
In the 2017 academic year, the rate will be 100% for Yenching Academy, Institute of Molecular Medicine, and Graduate School of Education of Peking University.
在2017学年，北京大学的燕京学堂、分子医学研究所、教育学院推免生比例就达到了100%。
In China, there is also a kind of undergraduate education called "on-job postgraduates," which means students work and study at the same time, and they are partly released from regular work.
此外，中国还有一批“在职研究生”，即以在职人员的身份，部分时间在职工作，部分时间在校学习，一定程度上来说他们属于脱产学习。
