PTE Listening Practice Test 17

"This lecture focuses on the history of the printing press and its impact on European society. Before the mid-fifteenth century, books in Europe were copied by hand, usually by monks, so they were rare, expensive and often contained copying errors. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg developed a press using movable metal type, which allowed individual letters to be arranged, printed and reused. Within fifty years, printing presses had spread to more than two hundred European cities, and millions of books had been produced. Cheaper books helped literacy to spread beyond the clergy and the wealthy, and they allowed new scientific and religious ideas to circulate far more rapidly than before. Some historians argue that the printing press was essential to later movements such as the Reformation and the Scientific Revolution."

পঞ্চদশ শতকের আগে ইউরোপে বই হাতে লেখা হতো, তাই দুর্লভ ও দামি ছিল। ১৪৫০ সালের দিকে গুটেনবার্গ চলনশীল ধাতব অক্ষরের ছাপাখানা তৈরি করেন। দ্রুত ছাপাখানা ছড়িয়ে পড়ে, সাক্ষরতা বাড়ে এবং নতুন ধারণা দ্রুত প্রচারিত হয়।

"A growing number of companies offer mindfulness training, short programmes that teach employees to focus calmly on the present moment. Several studies have found that participants report lower stress and slightly better concentration after completing an eight-week course. However, some researchers warn that mindfulness is sometimes used to help employees cope with problems that really come from heavy workloads or poor management. They argue that training individuals should not replace changes to working conditions themselves."

"The gig economy describes work arranged through digital platforms, such as ride-hailing and food-delivery apps, where workers are paid per task rather than receiving a regular salary. Many workers value the flexibility to choose when and how much they work, and the platforms offer an easy way to earn extra income. On the other hand, gig workers often lack sick pay, pensions and job security, and their earnings can vary greatly from week to week. Several governments are now considering laws to give platform workers more protection without removing their flexibility."

"The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990, but its first images were disappointingly blurry. Engineers discovered that its main mirror had been ground to a slightly wrong shape, an error smaller than one-fiftieth of the width of a human hair. In 1993, astronauts on a servicing mission installed corrective optics, much like fitting the telescope with glasses. After the repair, Hubble produced remarkably sharp images that helped astronomers measure the age of the universe."

"Octopuses, squid and cuttlefish can change the colour and pattern of their skin in less than a second, using thousands of tiny pigment sacs controlled by muscles, which allows them to hide from predators and communicate with each other."