“名校情结”从何而来？

Where did you go during the summer holidays? Chances are some of you may have visited Tsinghua and Peking universities. And you weren’t alone.

这个暑假，你都去哪儿了?或许有的人去参观了清华北大，但绝不止你一个。

This summer, crowds of tourists traveled to the campuses of these two universities, reported China Youth Daily. “Tsinghua University opens to the public at 8:30 am, however, many people start to line up at 3-4 am, because people who come at 6 am may be too late and can only enter in the afternoon,” a guard told People’s Daily.

据《中国青年报》报道，这个夏天，成群结队的游客前往这两所知名学府的校园参观。“清华大学早上八点半开放可进校参观，但是凌晨三四点的时候就有人来排队了，因为等到6点就有点晚了，那样只能排下午场了。”一名保安在接受《人民日报》采访时表示。

In fact, it’s not only Chinese universities that are overcrowded in summer. Cambridge and Oxford in the United Kingdom also come across the same problem.

事实上，不光国内大学在暑期人满为患。英国的剑桥和牛津也遇到了相同的问题。

According to The Guardian, the road in front of King’s College, Cambridge is usually filled with tourists, including Chinese schoolchildren in uniforms, before most coach (长途汽车) tours have even arrived.

据《卫报》报道，在大多数跟团游的大巴到来之前，剑桥大学国王学院门口的路上就常常挤满了游客，包括许多穿着制服的学生。

Universities in the United States are also popular among Chinese tourists. Nine out of 10 Chinese visitors to the US want to tour a university, according to a survey from 2014 by US tourism company Attract China.

美国的大学也很受中国游客的欢迎。据美国旅游公司Attract China 2014年发布的一项调查显示，有九成前往美国的中国游客想参观大学。

So why do Chinese tourists have such a big love for famous universities?

所以，为什么中国游客对名校如此喜爱呢?

One reason is that many parents hope to get their children accepted into a top university in the future, according to People’s Daily.

据《人民日报》报道，一大原因在于，许多家长都希望自己的孩子日后能进入一所顶尖高校就读。

For example, SuChanyi, a mother from Hunan province, walked her 14-year-old son around the campuses of Tsinghua and Peking universities this summer.

比如，苏婵义(音译)是一名来自湖南的母亲。这个夏天，她陪着自己14岁的儿子游览了清华北大的校园。

“I brought him here to see what top universities look like and let him compare them with those of our hometown. I hope he can learn something and be inspired to come here to study in the future,” she told China Daily.

“我带他来是想让他看看一流大学是什么样子，让他将这些名校和我们家乡的大学比比看。我希望他能有所收获，立志将来要来这里学习”她在接受《中国日报》采访时表示。

And it’s not just aspiring (有抱负的) students and parents you’ll find touring campuses.

而你还会发现，游览校园的，不光是有志求学的学生和他们的家长。

Wang Yuntao, 31, who comes from Xi’an, visited two famous US universities in 2014.

现年31岁的王宇涛来自西安，他在2014年参观了两所美国名校。

“American universities are much more open than Chinese ones. There are no walls,” he told The New York Times. “I was excited. I felt this urge to have a free exchange of ideas with someone.”

“美国大学比中国大学要开放得多，没有壁垒，”他在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示。“我很激动，很想和他人自由地交流想法。”