5 . GOING TO UNIVERSITY is supposed to be a mind-broadening experience. That statement is probably made in comparison to training for work straight after school, which might not be so encouraging. But is it actually true? Jessika Golle of the University of Tübingen, in Germany, thought she would try to find out. Her result, however, is not quite what might be expected. As she reports in Psychological Science this week, she found that those who have been to university do indeed seem to leave with broader and more inquiring minds than those who have spent their immediate post-school years in vocational (职业的) training for work. However, it was not the case that university broadened minds. Rather, work seemed to narrow them.

Dr. Golle came to this conclusion after she and a team of colleagues studied the early careers of 2,095 German youngsters. The team used two standardized tests to assess their volunteers. One was of personality traits, including openness, conscientiousness（认真）and so on. The other was of attitudes, such as realistic, investigative and enterprising. They administered both tests twice—once towards the end of each volunteer’s time at school, and then again six years later. Of the original group, 382 were on the intermediate track, from which there was a choice between the academic and vocational routes, and it was on these that the researchers focused. University beckoned for 212 of them. The remaining 170 chose vocational training and a job.

When it came to the second round of tests, Dr. Golle found that the personalities of those who had gone to university had not changed significantly. Those who had undergone vocational training and then got jobs were not that much changed in personality, either—except in one crucial respect. They had become more conscientious.

That sounds like a good thing, certainly compared with the common public image of undergraduates as a bunch of lazybones. But changes in attitude that the researchers recorded were rather worrying. In the university group, again, none were detectable. But those who had chosen the vocational route showed marked drops in interest in tasks that are investigative and enterprising in nature. And that might restrict their choice of careers.

Some investigative and enterprising jobs, such as scientific research, are, indeed beyond the degreeless. But many, particularly in Germany, with its tradition of vocational training, are not. The researchers mention, for example, computer programmers and finance-sector workers as careers requiring these traits. If Dr. Golle is correct, and changes in attitude brought about by the very training Germany prides itself on are narrowing people’s choices, that is indeed a matter worthy of serious consideration.

6 . Like many young people, Jessica wants to travel the globe. Unlike most of them, this 25-year-old is doing it _________. She and her husband have spent the last two years traveling the world, stopping everywhere from Paris to Singapore. It might sound like one long, expensive _________, but the couple has an unusual way to make their travel _________.

They’re part of a new form of the _________ economy (经济): an online group of house sitters.

Throughout their no-cost stays in _________ homes, they feed pets and water plants in the homeowner’s _________.

It’s not all sightseeing. The two travellers carefully _________ their trips, scheduling their days around the pets that are sometimes difficult to _________. But house sitting also offers a level of _________ they can’t find in a hotel. “It’s like __________ at a friend’s house,” Jessica says.

The couple has a high __________ rate in getting accepted as house sitters and they always go beyond the homeowner’s __________. For Jessica, that means __________ plenty of pictures of happy pets, keeping the house __________ and leaving a nice small gift before heading to the next house. “You want to make the homeowner feel that they made the right, __________” she says.

7 . National Park Service

Cumberland Island National Seashore, Georgia

Visitor center assistant

Ferry (渡船) can hold up to 100 visitors and departs (出发) twice daily to the island. Volunteers will help direct visitors to the parking area and ferry dock (码头) while answering questions about what to do and where to go during a visit.

Meet and greet visitors, answer repetitive questions, give directions, become knowledgeable about local history, clean high touch areas completely.

Office machines

General assistance

Public speaking

Visitor information

Outgoing person who has public speaking skills, able to walk / stand for 30 minutes at a time, willing to learn local history.

Both being inside visitor center in climate controlled area and being outdoors in different weather conditions.

General housekeeping

Trip and fall risks

May have to talk to unhappy visitors

8 . Twenty-five years ago, most young Britons wanted a job in law, to be a doctor, or, if they were creative enough, to take up singing. But today, things stand differently.

According to a research by Tesco Mobile, a UK company, the “dream job” of young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK is a video blogger, or “vlogger”. The research, carried out among 1, 002 people, found that as much as 40 percent of them put vlogger as their number one choice on a list of ideal careers.

This change is undoubtedly as a result of the Internet and social media. They have made it so much easier to reach audience around the world, without having to enter a career in show business in the traditional way.

In the past, the biggest stars were trained by the Hollywood studios; now, anyone with a computer camera can become a star. Vloggers are the big stars of today because they are normal people interacting with their fans about everyday life.

However, what people see is only the bright side of being a vlogger and they fail to notice the fact that only those who are successful earn fame and money. For every success there are hundreds of others who never get off the starting line. There are the dreams that come true and the dreams that remain dreams forever.

Although being vloggers is popular, some young people choose to follow careers that don’t necessarily earn them fame, but allow them to make good use of the Internet to share their hobbies. Young Israeli David Leshaw, for example, runs a business called the Finishers Club. It’s an online platform for runners to keep a record of their races. His job allows him to express his fun and is always a learning experience. And that’s enough for him.

Zhang Meng, from Zhejiang Province, was offered a high-paid job in Beijing in a large company. The promising job     1     (give) her a fairly comfortable life, but deep down she     2     (actual) felt that something was missing.

After many nights of     3     (think) about the purpose of her life, the 33-year-old decided to leave the city and return     4     her hometown. She gave up the lifestyle     5     only centers on working to become a     6     (profession) farmer.

Zhang and several like-minded     7     (friend) rented (租用) a piece of land on an island in Chongming, on the outskirts of Shanghai, to grow crops (作物).

She now grows organic sweet potatoes, long beans     8     other crops on the rented piece of land. For Zhang, it’s about enjoying a healthy and peaceful life. She is now trying     9     (get) a long-term lease (租约) on a farm of her own in rural Zhejiang Province near Shanghai. She hopes to plant her first crop in the spring.

“I jumped out of my comfort zone and went to a(an)     10     (certain) place, and it has been very important,” she said.