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Packed into a grey minibus, 22 Chinese parents are trundling down a bumpy driveway towards Cobham Hall, a girls boarding school set in 70 hectares of Kent countryside. 22位中国家长挤坐在一辆灰色的小型巴士里，沿着一条崎岖不平的车道向科巴姆堂学校(Cobham Hall)缓缓行进，这是一所位于肯特郡乡间、占地70公顷的女子寄宿学校。 The red-brick Tudor mansion, with its octagonal wing turrets, looks like something out of an Enid Blyton novel. But there is nothing fanciful about the battle Asia’s rich are waging to secure places for their children in top British boarding schools – an export market worth about £1bn a year to the UK. 学校的红砖都铎式大楼及其八角形配楼，看起来好像出自伊尼德•布莱顿(Enid Blyton)的小说。但亚洲富人为确保子女入读英国顶级寄宿学校而发起的战斗，则绝没有什么奇幻元素——对于英国来说，这一出口市场每年带来的价值高达10亿英镑。 The Financial Times joined the Chinese parents on part of a week-long tour organised by Gabbitas, an education consultancy which advises on applications. By day, the group visits schools and by night, they enjoy retail events laid on by Harrods, the Bicester Village designer shopping centre and Asprey the jeweller. 英国《金融时报》部分参与了中国家长们长达一周的学校考察之旅，此次活动是由提供入学申请建议的教育咨询机构Gabbitas组织的。家长们白天考察学校，到了晚上则参加由哈罗德百货公司(Harrods)、比斯特购物村(Bicester Village)的精品购物中心以及珠宝商爱丝普蕾(Asprey)等商家举办的零售活动。 | 
