Every September, the price of a flight from China to a major

American metropolis like Boston or New York soars. In addition to

the usual stream of business managers and tourists shuffling between

the two countries is the annual inflow of young Chinese, girls in

ponytails and boys in sneakers, headed to their American colleges. 【M1】________

Backpacks hiked up on their shoulders and suitcases rolling behind,

they carry transparent plastic folders with neat arranged sheets and 【M2】________

pamphlets showing their first destination on the new soil.

In the past decade, China witnessed an explosion in the number 【M3】________

of citizens studying abroad, a 21st-century manifestation of a

deep-rooted Confucius value that emphasizes on education. Even 【M4】________

before they enter high school, children of middle class families from

cities across China start to see liuxue—studying abroad—the default 【M5】________

choice. They devote hours of their class time to prepare for American 【M6】________

standardized exams from the SAT and GRE to the International

English Language Testing System, often scoring in the top quartile.

In 2010, nearly 130,000 Chinese students studied in the U.S., a 30

percent increase from the year before. After surpassed India, China is 【M7】________

now America’s top source of international students.

Lee jumped on the wagon himself in a September of 2005, 【M8】________

traveling to far-away Massachusetts for the last two years of high

school. After the initiative elation of reaching his long-strived-for 【M9】________

goal cooled and he figured out his way around the language barrier,

he realized that there were smaller hurdles than language for a 【M10】________

Chinese student in America.

【M7】