EST holds an TOEFL iBT exhibition in Seattle.               About 500 students across the Chinese mainland will appear for the first Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) exam today. The online exam, with a newly-added speaking section and first initiated in the United States last September, is to replace the written TOEFL test that was introduced to China 25 years ago. The exam will initially be held at 15 centres in six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou and Chengdu, offering 500 seats. By the year-end, 10,000 people will have a chance to take the test at 19 centres in the six cities, according to the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS). "With the Internet-based delivery platform, both the number of test centres and the frequency of tests will increase significantly compared to five paper-based TOEFL tests offered annually," said Paul Ramsey, senior vice-president of ETS' international development department. The 18 tests this year could increase to as many as 40 next year, he said. ETS figures show that the Chinese now account for about 10 per cent of its global TOEFL examinees -- the most in the world -- and the number is growing. Last year, about 90,000 Chinese students took the test, according to China's National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA), which helps ETS administer it in China. Ramsey explained that the technology used in iBT permits test items to be delivered to ETS from sites worldwide, thus increasing the already-high security. "It also ensures unbiased testing by recording responses in the speaking section electronically and sending them to a network of ETS human raters, who objectively score the responses for maximum reliability," he said. So, how tough is the new test? Students believe it will be more challenging because of the new speaking section. "Speaking is generally considered the Achilles' heel of Chinese students," said Li Ding, a TOEFL teacher with New Oriental School, China's biggest English-training institute. He said many of his students rushed to take the last several written TOEFL exams to avoid the new one.

今天，中国大陆的近500名考生将参加首场托福网考。 托福网考于去年9月首次在美国开始举行，新考试加入了口语测试单元，在中国大陆实行了25年之久的纸笔形式的托福考试宣告结束。 首场托福网考在北京、上海、广州、天津、杭州和成都六个城市开设了15个考点，共500个座位。 据美国教育考试服务中心介绍，到今年年底，这六个城市的考点将增加到19个，考生也将增加到1万个。 美国教育考试服务中心全球发展部高级副总裁保罗·拉姆西说：“过去的托福纸笔考是每年五次，新一代托福考试主要以网络传输为平台，其考点数量和考试频率将会大大增加。” 他说：“今年将在中国大陆安排18次托福网考，明年可能会达到40场。” 据美国教育考试服务中心数据显示，每年参加托福考试的中国考生数量占全球考生的10％，居全世界第一，而且这个数字还在不断增加。 据美国教育考试服务中心合作伙伴中国教育部考试中心介绍，去年，近9万名中国学生参加了托福考试。 拉姆西说，新一代的托福考试依靠相关技术将世界各地考点的试卷传输到教育考试服务中心总部，所以考试的安全性也进一步提高。 他说：“口语考试单元主要采用电子录音的方式将声音录下，再将其传输至ETS总部的人工评分网络，最后由考官统一听取打分，这也保证了考试的公平公正性。” 那么，新托福考试有多难呢？考生们认为口语测试的加入将会提高考试的难度。 中国最大的英语培训机构新东方学校的托福老师李丁说：“口语是中国学生的一个普遍弱点。” 他说，为了避开新托福考试，很多学生争相参加最后几场托福纸笔考。