The TOEFL iBT has been the most common English test for international students seeking entrance to American colleges. This year, there will be a shorter, less costly test called TOEFL Essentials.
托福 iBT 一直是寻求进入美国大学的国际学生最常见的英语考试。今年，将有一项时间更短、成本更低的考试，称为托福基础考试。
The letters T-O-E-F-L stand for Test of English as a Foreign Language. And iBT stands for internet-based test. Both the iBT and Essentials are administered by the American educational company Educational Testing Service, known as ETS.
字母 T-O-E-F-L 代表英语作为外语的测试。 iBT 代表基于互联网的测试。 iBT 和 Essentials 均由美国教育公司教育考试服务中心 (ETS) 管理。
Since 1964, colleges and universities in the United States have used the TOEFL to measure an international student’s level of English. And schools in Australia, Canada and other English-speaking European nations started using the International English Language Testing System, or I-E-L-T-S, in 1989.
自1964年以来，美国的学院和大学开始使用托福考试来衡量国际学生的英语水平。澳大利亚、加拿大和其他英语欧洲国家的学校于 1989 年开始使用国际英语语言测试系统 (I-E-L-T-S)。
These two tests have been the main choices for colleges to measure English ability. In recent years, companies including Duolingo and EF Education First, have developed new English language tests that are low-cost or free and easy to use. These tests aim to do more than just offer more choices in the college admissions process. Some people use them to measure their English proficiency for employment.
这两项考试一直是大学衡量英语能力的主要选择。近年来，Duolingo 和 EF Education First 等公司开发了低成本或免费且易于使用的新英语语言测试。这些测试的目的不仅仅是在大学招生过程中提供更多选择。有些人用它们来衡量他们的就业英语水平。
The new TOEFL Essentials
新托福必备
Srikant Gopal is the executive director of the TOEFL program at ETS. He said the new TOEFL Essentials is shorter and less costly than the TOEFL iBT.
Srikant Gopal 是 ETS 托福项目的执行总监。他表示，新的 TOEFL Essentials 比 TOEFL iBT 更短、成本更低。
The TOEFL iBT takes about three hours to complete. And it costs $200 or more, depending on where in the world you live. The TOEFL Essentials takes 90 minutes and is expected to cost about $100.
TOEFL iBT 大约需要三个小时才能完成。它的价格为 200 美元或更多，具体取决于您居住在世界的哪个地方。托福基础考试需要 90 分钟，预计费用约为 100 美元。
While Essentials is shorter, Gopal said it still measures students’ academic and general English ability. He explained that ETS made the test “adaptive,” which means the test will give a student a harder question if they answer the previous question correctly.
虽然 Essentials 较短，但戈帕尔表示，它仍然衡量学生的学术和一般英语能力。他解释说，ETS 使测试变得“适应性”，这意味着如果学生正确回答了前一个问题，测试就会给他们一个更难的问题。
“What we've built into TOEFL Essentials, for example, is many new and innovative features, such as a personal video statement or a multi- stage adaptive design, and to really offer something very unique and something that’s distinctly different from TOEFL iBT.”
“例如，我们在 TOEFL Essentials 中内置了许多新的创新功能，例如个人视频声明或多阶段自适应设计，并真正提供了非常独特且与 TOEFL iBT 截然不同的东西。”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ETS only offered its test in-person at centers around the world where test-takers could be watched by proctors . When testing centers closed last year, ETS moved quickly to develop a secure home-testing system to watch students and speed up the launch of Essentials.
在 COVID-19 大流行之前，ETS 仅在世界各地的考试中心提供现场考试，监考人员可以在这些考试中心监视考生。去年考试中心关闭后，ETS 迅速采取行动开发安全的家庭考试系统来监视学生并加快 Essentials 的推出。
Gopal noted security is important for university admissions. And he said that makes the TOEFL test different from those of its competitors.
戈帕尔指出，安全对于大学招生非常重要。他表示，这使得托福考试与竞争对手的考试有所不同。
Gabriel Guillen teaches language studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. He took the TOEFL in 2010 before studying for a higher degree in the U.S.
加布里埃尔·吉兰 (Gabriel Guillen) 在加利福尼亚州蒙特雷的米德尔伯里国际研究学院教授语言研究。他于 2010 年参加了托福考试，之后前往美国攻读更高学位。
“This is good news for the field, and for...students who are applying for college in the U.S.,” Guillen said.
“这对于这个领域以及......正在申请美国大学的学生来说都是个好消息，”吉兰说。
He noted that it is not a coincidence that ETS created a shorter and less expensive test, given the popularity of the Duolingo English test. The test is accepted by many universities, takes one hour to complete and only costs $49.
他指出，考虑到 Duolingo 英语测试的受欢迎程度，ETS 创建时间更短、成本更低的测试并非巧合。该测试被许多大学接受，只需一小时即可完成，费用仅为 49 美元。
“I don’t know the insights of ETS, but it is pretty obvious for anyone that they are responding to the competition of Duolingo.”
“我不知道 ETS 的见解，但对任何人来说都很明显，他们正在应对 Duolingo 的竞争。”
Most of the schools contacted by VOA said they are still waiting for more information about the new TOEFL Essentials.
美国之音联系的大多数学校表示，他们仍在等待有关新托福必备课程的更多信息。
Anneli Richter is the Associate Dean for Graduate Admissions at Duke University. In an email, she said, “the school is reviewing the test and has not decided yet whether to accept it.”
Anneli Richter 是杜克大学研究生招生副院长。她在一封电子邮件中说，“学校正在审查测试，尚未决定是否接受测试。”
Some schools like Temple University Law School, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the University of San Francisco have told ETS they will accept results from the new test. And ETS said it will publish a list of universities that intend to accept the Essentials test after the first phase of testing.
宾夕法尼亚州费城天普大学法学院和旧金山大学等一些学校已告诉 ETS，他们将接受新测试的结果。 ETS表示，第一阶段测试结束后，将公布有意接受Essentials测试的大学名单。
Registration for TOEFL Essentials starts June 17 and the first test date is August 21. ETS said it will continue to offer iBT because most universities do not have experience with the new test. And students who are considering the Essentials test can also practice on the ETS website .
TOEFL Essentials 报名将于 6 月 17 日开始，首次考试日期为 8 月 21 日。ETS 表示将继续提供 iBT，因为大多数大学没有新考试的经验。正在考虑参加 Essentials 考试的学生也可以在 ETS 网站上进行练习。