영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Elite athletes rarely walk up to a free throw line or a golf ball without first ①performing a highly specific sequence of movements, a habit sports psychologists call a pre-performance routine. Far from ②being mere superstition, this consistent sequence, whether it involves bouncing a basketball a fixed number of times or taking a particular number of practice swings, serves a genuine cognitive purpose. Repeating the same physical and mental steps before every attempt ③narrows an athlete's focus away from distracting thoughts about outcome or crowd noise and toward the specific technical cues needed to execute the skill correctly. Researchers have found that athletes who follow a consistent routine tend ④to show more stable performance under pressure than those who approach each attempt differently. The routine essentially functions as a trigger, ⑤cues the body to shift automatically into a familiar, well-rehearsed state.

Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, swimming, or cycling at a steady pace, ①strengthens the heart by forcing it to pump larger volumes of blood with each beat. Over weeks of consistent training, the heart gradually enlarges and becomes more efficient, meaning it can deliver the same amount of oxygen to working muscles while ②beating fewer times per minute. This adaptation explains why trained athletes often have a much lower resting heart rate than sedentary individuals of the same age. Beyond the heart itself, aerobic activity encourages the body ③building new capillaries within muscle tissue, improving the delivery of oxygen and nutrients at a cellular level. Researchers have also found that regular aerobic exercise ④reduces inflammation throughout the body and improves the way cells respond to insulin. Because these benefits accumulate gradually rather than appearing overnight, most exercise physiologists recommend ⑤maintaining a consistent routine for at least several months before expecting dramatic improvements in endurance.

Psychologist Roy Baumeister proposed a concept called ego depletion theory, which suggests that willpower functions like a muscle that gradually ①strengthens after repeated use. According to this theory, every act of self-control, from resisting a snack to concentrating on difficult homework, draws from the same ②limited mental resource. As this resource becomes ③depleted throughout the day, later decisions require more effort and are more likely to fail. For instance, someone who exercises discipline avoiding distractions all morning may ④struggle to resist checking a phone by evening. Likewise, dieters report that self-control weakens sharply at night, after hours of resisting food. Some researchers argue that short breaks, adequate sleep, and blood sugar levels can help ⑤restore this depleted resource.

Coaches have traditionally focused athlete preparation on training volume and nutrition, but a growing body of research suggests that sleep deserves ①equal attention. During deep sleep, the body releases growth hormone, a substance essential for repairing muscle tissue damaged during intense training, while the brain ②consolidates motor skills practiced earlier that day into more stable, efficient patterns. Athletes who sleep fewer than seven hours a night have been shown to suffer ③more injuries, slower reaction times, and reduced accuracy compared to well-rested peers performing the identical drills. Frequent travel across time zones ④simplifies this challenge considerably, since jet lag can disrupt an athlete's natural sleep-wake cycle for several days after a long flight, sometimes right before an important competition. In response, many professional teams now employ sleep specialists who design travel schedules, control bedroom lighting and temperature, treating sleep as an ⑤active and measurable component of overall athletic training.

Athletes preparing for major endurance events sometimes train for weeks at high altitude, where the air contains ①less oxygen than at sea level, in hopes of gaining a physiological edge once they return to compete at lower elevations. In this thin air, the body responds by producing ②fewer red blood cells, which carry oxygen more efficiently through the bloodstream to working muscles. When these athletes return to sea level, where oxygen is more abundant, their blood retains this elevated capacity for a limited period, potentially translating into ③improved endurance performance. However, the benefits of altitude training are far from guaranteed, since individual athletes respond quite ④differently to the same conditions, and some experience excessive fatigue that undermines the very training they hoped to complete. Many elite programs therefore follow a strategy known as live high, train low, in which athletes sleep at altitude to ⑤stimulate blood adaptations but perform intense workouts at lower elevation to maintain quality and intensity.

Anyone who has ridden a bicycle after a decade away from one has likely experienced muscle memory firsthand: the body seems to recall a complex skill almost instantly, even when conscious memory of the exact movements has faded. Contrary to what the name suggests, muscles themselves do not actually store memories; the phenomenon originates in the brain and nervous system, where repeated practice gradually shifts control of a well-learned movement from regions associated with conscious thought to areas that operate largely automatically. This shift explains why a skilled athlete can execute a complicated sequence of movements without consciously thinking through each individual step, freeing mental attention for strategy and decision-making instead. Interestingly, research also suggests that _______________.

Across many countries, high schools begin classes early in the morning, often before eight o'clock. This schedule assumes that teenagers can simply go to bed earlier to compensate, but biology tells a different story. During adolescence, the body's internal clock shifts later, delaying the release of melatonin until well after ten at night. As a result, most teenagers are not physiologically ready to fall asleep until much later than younger children or adults. When early start times force them to wake before their bodies have completed a full sleep cycle, the mismatch accumulates into a chronic sleep debt that affects concentration and mood throughout the school day. Researchers who study this mismatch argue that _______________. Some school districts that delayed their start times by thirty minutes reported improvements in attendance, suggesting that the timing of the school day matters more than commonly assumed.

After an especially demanding training session, the instinct to collapse onto a couch and remain motionless is understandable, yet exercise physiologists increasingly recommend the opposite approach. (A) This gentle activity keeps blood circulating through tired muscles, which appears to help clear metabolic byproducts more efficiently than complete stillness does. (B) Some athletes worry that any movement at all will interfere with the repair process, but research suggests that truly light activity does not meaningfully slow healing. (C) Active recovery involves performing low-intensity movement, such as a light jog, an easy swim, or a gentle bike ride, on days following intense exertion rather than resting completely.

Exercise does far more than strengthen muscles and the heart; it also produces measurable changes within the brain itself. (A) Interestingly, aerobic activities such as running or swimming appear to produce more pronounced cognitive benefits than purely strength-based training, though the precise biological reasons for this difference remain an active area of investigation. (B) Studies comparing physically active students to sedentary peers have repeatedly found that the active group performs better on tests of attention and problem-solving, even when the exercise session ends well before the test begins. (C) During sustained physical activity, the body releases a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which supports the growth of new neurons and strengthens connections between existing ones.

For this reason, nutritionists generally advise spreading moderate portions of protein evenly across several meals throughout the day rather than saving it all for one large post-workout meal. After a strenuous workout, muscle fibers experience thousands of microscopic tears, and the body immediately begins a repair process that ultimately makes the muscle stronger than it was before. ( ① ) This repair depends heavily on amino acids, the building blocks that protein supplies, which is why sports scientists recommend consuming protein within a couple of hours after training. ( ② ) Waiting too long to eat can slow recovery, since a muscle's sensitivity to amino acids gradually declines once that window closes. ( ③ ) Many athletes assume that eating an enormous quantity of protein in a single sitting will speed up this process. ( ④ ) But the body can only use a limited amount at once; the rest is simply burned for energy or stored as fat. ( ⑤ )