PTE Listening Practice Test 20

"Today's lecture traces the development of the internet from a small research project to a global network. In the late nineteen-sixties, the United States Department of Defense funded ARPANET, a network that connected a handful of university computers so that researchers could share resources. A crucial step came in the nineteen-seventies with the creation of common rules, or protocols, called TCP/IP, which allowed different networks to communicate with each other. However, the internet remained largely a tool for scientists until 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web, a system of linked pages that made information easy to find and share. The arrival of web browsers in the nineteen-nineties brought the internet into homes and businesses, and the growth of smartphones later made it accessible to billions of people. Today, debates focus on privacy, misinformation and the digital divide between those with reliable access and those without."

ষাটের দশকে আরপানেট দিয়ে ইন্টারনেটের শুরু, সত্তরের দশকে TCP/IP প্রোটোকল বিভিন্ন নেটওয়ার্ককে যুক্ত করে। ১৯৮৯ সালে বার্নার্স-লি ওয়ার্ল্ড ওয়াইড ওয়েব প্রস্তাব করেন। ব্রাউজার ও স্মার্টফোন একে কোটি মানুষের কাছে পৌঁছে দেয়; এখন গোপনীয়তা ও ডিজিটাল বৈষম্য নিয়ে বিতর্ক চলছে।

"Volunteering is often seen purely as a way of helping others, but research suggests it can benefit volunteers as well. Regular volunteers report higher life satisfaction and a stronger sense of purpose, and some studies have linked volunteering among older adults with lower rates of depression. For students and job-seekers, volunteering can also build practical skills, such as teamwork and communication, that employers value. However, the benefits seem to depend on motivation: people who volunteer mainly to help others tend to gain more than those who volunteer only to improve their CVs."

"The traditional economy follows a straight line: we take raw materials, make products, use them and then throw them away. A circular economy aims to keep materials in use for as long as possible by designing products that can be repaired, reused and recycled. Some companies now lease products such as lighting or carpets instead of selling them, so they have an incentive to make them last and to recover the materials afterwards. Supporters say this approach reduces waste and dependence on raw materials, although it requires changes in design, business models and consumer habits."

"The axolotl is a type of salamander found naturally only in a few lakes and canals near Mexico City. Unlike most amphibians, it usually keeps its juvenile features, including feathery external gills, throughout its adult life. Scientists are especially interested in the axolotl because it can regrow lost limbs, parts of its heart and even sections of its spinal cord without scarring. Sadly, the wild population has fallen dramatically because of pollution and urban growth, even though the animal is common in laboratories and home aquariums."

"Since the Moon has almost no atmosphere and no wind or rain to disturb the surface, the footprints left by the Apollo astronauts more than fifty years ago are expected to remain visible for millions of years."