PTE考生目前最大的问题之一就是练习题缺乏。除了有限的基本官方书（PLUS，Testbuilder, OG）之外，就没有题了。很多英语基础不是很扎实的同学很难找到练习材料。墨尔本文波雅思PTE培训学校专门为墨尔本，悉尼PTE考生准备了适合PTE听力阅读练习的科学60秒。各位PTE同学可以练习PTE听力中的summarise spoken text和PTE口语中的retell lecture，练习记笔记技巧和复述。废话少说，下面开始：
60秒科学：Online-Personalization-Means-Prices-Are-Tailored-to-You-Too
听力内容：
60秒科学节目（SSS）是科学美国人网站的一套广播栏目，英文名称：Scientific American – 60 Second Science,节目内容以科学报道为主，节目仅一分钟的时间，主要对当今的科学技术新发展作以简明、通俗的介绍，对于科学的发展如何影响人们的生活环境、健康状况及科学技术，提供了大量简明易懂的阐释。
“If you were to walk into a brick and mortar store and they were offering better prices for less affluent people there would be a revolt, right? No one would stand for this.” Christo Wilson, a computer scientist at Northeastern University. But on the Internet, he says, anything goes when it comes to pricing. “It is super subjective. Everything can be personalized.”
Wilson and his colleagues analyzed just how personal online shopping can get. They compared the search results of 300 real-world users to searches by cookie-free, fake accounts on 16 major e-commerce sites. Turns out half the sites personalized search results, based on who was searching. Especially travel sites. Expedia and Hotels.com prioritized more expensive hotels for certain users; and Priceline skewed search results based on past purchases.
But Wilson’s favorite example of variable online pricing was HomeDepot.com – where shoppers on mobile devices tend to be offered much more expensive items. “It’s like you went on your desktop and you search for a table and they give you a plastic folding table; but you search from your phone and they give you a mahogany dining room table.” The researchers will present their findings on November 6th at the Internet Measurement Conference in Vancouver.
For all you comparison shoppers, here’s Wilson’s advice on how to beat the bots. “Do the search from your desktop, as you normally would. You should also do the search from an incognito or a private window. You should also then do the search from your mobile, or your tablet. And then if you’re really paranoid, you should also talk to a friend or a family member or friend, and have them also do the search.” We’ve gone from brick and mortar¡to click and be mortified.
–Christopher Intagliata
