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。悉尼文波雅思PTE培训学校专门为澳洲,尤其是悉尼、墨尔本的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。
Backyard Feeders Driving Bird Evolution
A study in the journal Current Biology finds that backyard bird feeders in Britain are responsible for splitting central European blackcap warblers into two distinct populations that may be on their way to becoming separate species. Karen Hopkin reports
We usually think of evolution as something that happens over eons, in remote places where people rarely venture. Not something that happens around the backyard birdfeeder in just a few decades. But a study in the journal Current Biology suggests that feeding birds in winter can influence their course of evolution.
The birds in this study were central European blackcaps, a common kind of warbler. In spring, they breed in southern Germany. And when winter comes, they all fly south to the Mediterranean. At least they used to. In the 1960s, folks in Britain started putting out seed in winter. And the blackcaps split into two distinct groups. One goes to Spain to nosh on fruits and olives, the other heads north to take advantage of the easy English pickin’s.
The two populations may even be splitting into two species. The blackcaps that winter in England tend to mate with each other when they return to Germany. So they’re starting to look different from the birds that go south. Their beaks are longer and narrower, less suited to supping on Spanish olives. As birds of a feather, they definitely flock together. And to some degree, they have a bunch of bird–feeding Brits to thank.
—Karen Hopkin