Going to university is supposed to be a mind-broadening experience.
读大学应该是开阔思想的经历。
That assertion is presumably made in contradistinction to training for work straight after school, which might not be so stimulating.
这种说法可能是为了与毕业后直接参加工作培训的说法相对比，这听起来或许没那么励志。
But is it actually true? Jessika Golle of the University of Tubingen, in Germany, thought she would try to find out.
但真的是这样么？德国蒂宾根大学的Jessika Golle认为她可以试着找到答案。
Her result, however, is not quite what might be expected. As she reports in Psychological Science this week,
但她得到的结果和所期待的大有不同。本周她在《心理科学》的报告称，
she found that those who have been to university do indeed seem to leave with broader and more inquiring minds
她发现和那些离校后马上进行职业训练的人相比，
than those who have spent their immediate post-school years in vocational training for work.
那些读过大学的人看起来确实在毕业后有更加开阔的探索性的思维。
However, it was not the case that university broadened minds. Rather, work seemed to narrow them.
但大学能够开阔思维，其实并非如此。但工作似乎会使思维狭隘。

Dr Golle came to this conclusion after she and a team of colleagues studied the early careers of 2,095 German youngsters.
Golle博士和她的同事团队对2095名德国年轻人的早期事业进行研究，之后她得出了这个结论。
During the period under investigation (the system was modified slightly this year), Germany had three tracks in its schools:
在调查期间（今年对该体系进行了稍微修改），德国的学校分为三类：
a low one for pupils who would most probably leave school early and enter vocational training;
低等学校—学生们可能会早找离开学校接受职业训练；
a high one for those almost certain to enter university; and an intermediate one, from which there was a choice between the academic and vocational routes.
高等学校—学生基本一定会读大学；以及中等学校—从这里出来的学生要在学术和职业道路中二选一。
The team used two standardised tests to assess their volunteers.
该团队利用两种标准测试对他们的志愿者进行评估。
One was of personality traits (openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and extroversion).
一个是人格特征（开放、神经质、有责任心、亲和以及外向）。
The other was of attitudes (realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional).
另一个是态度（现实主义、探究型、艺术型、社会型、开创型和保守型）。
They administered both tests twice—once towards the end of each volunteer's time at school, and then again six years later.
每个测试均会进行两次—— 一次是在每位志愿者的离校之时，第二次是在六年之后。
Of the original group, 382 were on the intermediate track, and it was on these that the researchers focused. University beckoned for 212 of them.
原始组中有382人就读中等学校，这是研究人员重点关注的对象。其中212名被大学录取。
The remaining 170 opted for vocational training and a job.

But those who had chosen the vocational route showed marked drops in interest in tasks that are investigative and enterprising in nature.
但是那些选择职业培训的人，他们对探究型和开创型任务的兴趣明显下降。
And that might restrict their choice of careers.
并且这或许限制了他们的职业选择。
Some investigative and enterprising jobs, such as scientific research, are, indeed off limits to the degreeless.
一些探究型和开创型工作，比如科研，确实不在无学位者的能力范围内。
But many, particularly in Germany, with its tradition of vocational training, are not.
但是很多有职业培训传统的工作并非如此。
The researchers mention, for example, computer programmers, finance-sector workers, estate agents and entrepreneurs as careers requiring these attributes.
例如，研究人员提到，计算机程序设计员、金融部门员工、地产中介以及企业家是需要这些特质的职业。
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 of concern.
如果Golle博士的结论正确，并且由于培训（德国人以此为傲）而带来态度上的变化缩小了人们的选择，这确实是一个令人关注的问题。