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：Better Barley Let People Settle Tibetan Plateau
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。
The Tibetan Plateau, at an altitude of some 3,000 meters above sea level, is often called the “roof of the world.” Some prehistoric people tried living there starting about 20,000 years ago. Remains of cooked animals and small-scale hearths show that a few hardy souls did give the harsh region a go, at least temporarily. But they did not stick around.
Permanent human settlements in the area began about 5,200 years ago. So scientists wanted to know. What changed?
Researchers collected artifacts, animal bones and plant remains from 53 sites. The oldest camps only reached altitudes of about 2,500 meters. And at these sites, millet makes up 98 percent of dietary grain.
But about 3,600 years a new kind of barley arrived in the region, after being domesticated in the Fertile Crescent that spread from the Persian Gulf to the Nile. The new barley tolerated frost and had a longer growing season. Which means it grew above the 3000 meter mark—and that people could settle there. Diets at those heights became dominated by the new, hardy barley.
The findings are in the journal Science. [F. H. Chen et al, Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP]
The researchers say that the cross-cultural grain exchange from the Fertile Crescent thus appears to be what allowed humans to finally reach the roof of the world.
—Cynthia Graber
