化石燃料可以說是人類社會至關重要的能源之一，就連PTE都一而再再而三的考到這道題。墨爾本文波PTE今天就為大家帶來了PTE聽力SST中有關化石燃料這道題的相關背景，繼續閱讀有驚喜喔？！
Fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) have, and continue to, play a dominant role in global energy systems. Fossil energy was a fundamental driver of the Industrial Revolution, and the technological, social, economic and development progress which has followed. Energy has played a strongly positive role in global change.
However, fossil fuels also have negative impacts, being the dominant source of local air pollution and emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. The world must therefore balance the role of energy in social and economic development with the need to decarbonise, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and transition towards lower-carbon energy sources.
談及化石燃料必然離不開幾點因素：
1.化石燃料是什麼？
2.化石燃料的優點和缺點？
3.人們目前對化石燃料的消耗狀態？
4.不同的國家對於化石燃料的依賴程度？
5.如何減少或控制人類社會對化石燃料的依賴？
PTE SST這道真題就總結了以上幾個問題的答案：
發達國家80%－90%的能源來自於化石燃料
80%－90% of the energy comes from fossil fuel for the majority of developed countries.
化石燃料並非可持續的能源
However, fossil fuel is not sustainable to some extent.
原因有三點：
1. 容易獲取的化石燃料是有限的
Fossil fuels with easy access are finite.
2.化石燃料對空氣和氣候造成的汙染是不可逆的
Burning fossil fuels causes pollution to air and climate, which is harmful to all human beings.
3.化石燃料不豐富的國家可能會有安全問題
If a country largely depends on other countries for fossil fuels, this dependency could cause security concern.
考試的時候只要答出fossil fuel的特點和這三點原因即可。
文波PTE每一次為大家總結機經的時候都不僅僅是著眼於機經，眾所周知，隨著越來越多的考生放棄雅思轉考PTE之後，培生官方便越發看中考題中涉及到的背景，可以說是天文地理，人文科學，歷史遺蹟，社會問題等等話題五一不有，換句話說，考題的內容是有限的，而題目本身涉及到的背景卻是無限的。
當談到化石燃料的問題，我們必然要談到化石燃料的消耗問題，when it comes to energy consumption, the most convincing evidence is data, in other words, numbers. 在這裡為大家提供一個非常好的網站，https://ourworldindata.org/fossil-fuels
這個網站有很多跟社會問題相關的圖表，非常適合大家在了解背景之餘練習DI，將DI與Retell Lecture和SST完美結合起來，每一張圖表下面的解釋說明堪稱DI能用到的標準模版。大家來看看下面這張煤的生產量的圖表，以及ourworlddata對這張圖表的解釋說明。