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。
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。
This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I’m Christopher Intagliata.
The ingredient that makes hot chilies hot is called capsaicin—and it can set your mouth on fire. But the spicy compound has a soothing effect too: in your gut, it kicks off a chemical cascade that might calm the immune system and reduce inflammation.
Researchers studied that phenomenon in mice. Once inside the gut,
the capsaicin molecules plugged into a specific receptor, spurring the release of another compound,
called anandamide. Anandamide happens to be an endocannabinoid—similar to active ingredients inmarijuana—which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the gut. That last step in the cascade ramped up the production of cells that damp down inflammation in the mice—and even cured them of a mouse model of diabetes type 1, an autoimmune disease.
If all this sounds a bit similar to the chemical messaging that happens
in the brain…that’s because it is. “The gut has a very large nervous system. It’s almost as large as
the brain itself.” Pramod Srivastava, an immunologist at UConn Health and
one of the study’s leaders.
“We don’t quite fully understand what this huge amount of neurons are doing
in the gut. We don’t understand its language, and the molecules and mediators. And I think
with this work we can at least claim to have found a couple of words in that language.”
The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
So to recap that chemical chain: chilies cause the
production of endocannabinoids, which produce immune suppressant cells, which soothe inflammation. So,
what if you cut out the chili initiator, and just eat cannabinoids—pot brownies, stuff like that?
“Obviously we are very interested in people who use edible cannabinoids.
I’m extremely curious if people with colitis or Crohn’s disease, who are edible pot users,
do they benefit from it? I have no idea. But it’s something we can now find out because
sizable numbers of people are consuming those edibles.”
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I’m Christopher Intagliata.
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