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：Big Apple’s Insects Eat Streets Clean
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。
Rather than cringing at the next beetle or wasp in your way, you might want to thank them—for helping to keep city streets clean.
Researchers from North Carolina State University working in New York City found that hungry urban arthropods play a significant role in the disposal of trash. For example, in a small section of Manhattan called the Broadway/West St. corridor, insects consume the equivalent of 60,000 hot dogs a year that would otherwise be lying in the street. And that’s assuming the bugs stop chowing down in winter.
To assess how much discarded food bugs got rid of, the researchers placed measured amounts of hot dogs, potato chips and cookies at 21 park sites and 24 street medians. Contrary to their prediction, location played an even bigger role in garbage consumption than biodiversity did—insects gobbled up two to three times more food in the street medians than they did in the parks.
The study appears in the journal Global Change Biology. [Elsa Youngsteadt et al, Habitat and species identity, not diversity, predict the extent of refuse consumption by urban arthropods]
If all that garbage disposal still does not make you an arthropod admirer, then consider this: by competing with larger pests for resources, insects help keep rat populations down. There’s some food for thought.
—Allie Wilkinson
