A staff member types the Chinese paragraph test into the iFlytek translation machine on Dec 18. [Photo from WeChat account hefeigaoxinfabu]

A translation machine developed by China's leading information technology company, iFlytek, sat the 2018 College English Test Band 6 (CET-6), the national standardized English examination, on Dec 18. 

The machine did the translation part of the test, which requires candidates to choose one paragraph from the prepared three and then translate it from Chinese to English within 30 minutes. 

The iFlytek gadget finished its answer in just five seconds and got a weighted average score of 13 out of a possible total of 15. 

"The machine's performance was far beyond our expectations," said an examiner. 

To ensure there was no cheating, the iFlytek machine was unplugged and sealed at a notary office in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, from Dec 14 to 18, until students finished sitting their CET-6 on Dec 15. 

All the required translation paragraphs were manually typed into the machine, without any access to the internet or other communication terminals.

Experts give scores to the iFlyek machine's translation. [Photo from WeChat account hefeigaoxinfabu]