영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Until last spring, Minji ①rarely thought twice about tossing a paper cup into the trash after finishing her coffee. Environmental issues seemed ②distant, something scientists and politicians should handle rather than an ordinary student like her. That changed when her class was assigned a documentary about plastic waste drifting through the ocean, footage she initially expected to find boring. Instead, watching seabirds mistake plastic fragments for food left her strangely ③comforted, and she found herself thinking about the assignment long after class ended. The next morning, almost without deciding to, she slipped her old tumbler into her backpack instead of buying a disposable cup on the way to school. It felt like a small, ④meaningless gesture at first. However, as weeks passed, she realized that consistently choosing the tumbler, declining a plastic straw, and reusing a shopping bag were quietly ⑤adding up. Small choices, she discovered, become meaningful once repeated.

Anthropologist Robin Dunbar proposed a concept now known as Dunbar's number, suggesting that human beings can only ①abandon about one hundred fifty stable social relationships at any given time. This limit, he argued, comes from the size of the human brain, which ②restricts how many meaningful connections a person can cognitively manage. In contrast, many social media users today have hundreds or even thousands of online friends and followers, a number far ③exceeding what Dunbar's research predicts. However, having numerous digital contacts does not necessarily mean that all of these relationships are ④close or emotionally supportive. Most users, when asked, admit that they interact regularly with only a small fraction of their total followers, while the rest remain largely ⑤unnoticed.

Artificial intelligence has begun to play a surprising role in creative industries once thought to be uniquely human. Some artists welcome this technology, using AI tools to explore new styles or overcome creative blocks that once took weeks to resolve. Others, however, argue that AI-generated art lacks the emotional depth that comes from genuine human experience. Despite this debate, most experts agree that AI is unlikely to fully replace artists anytime soon. Instead, it ___________, helping creators experiment faster while leaving final artistic decisions to humans.

Imagine two factories making the same product: one in a country with strict carbon rules, and one in a country with almost none. The factory facing stricter rules often spends more, which can make its goods pricier than those made elsewhere. To fix this imbalance, some governments have introduced the carbon border adjustment mechanism, a policy charging imported goods a fee based on how much carbon was released while producing them. Supporters argue that the system _______________. However, critics claim it unfairly burdens developing countries, which often lack money to modernize factories quickly. For example, a small exporter in a poorer nation might struggle to pay the added charge, though it contributes little to global emissions. Still, if wealthier nations pair the policy with technical support, it could become a genuinely fair tool for cutting emissions worldwide.

Only a decade ago, translation apps produced sentences so awkward that users often laughed at the results. Today, many of these apps rely on neural networks that analyze entire sentences at once, capturing context instead of translating word by word. This shift has made everyday tasks such as reading a foreign menu or chatting with an overseas friend remarkably smooth. Even so, the technology still struggles with humor, sarcasm, and cultural nuance, so that _______________. For this reason, professional translators argue that these apps are best treated as a helpful starting point rather than a final, polished result.

The term green premium _______________. For example, an electric vehicle or solar-powered appliance often carries a higher price tag than its gasoline-powered or coal-based counterpart, even though it produces fewer emissions over time. This price gap frequently discourages shoppers who support sustainability in principle but cannot justify the additional expense within a limited household budget. In contrast, wealthier consumers can absorb the premium more easily, which creates unequal participation in green markets. To narrow this gap, governments have introduced subsidies and tax credits that lower upfront costs, while companies invest in research to make clean technologies cheaper to manufacture. As production scales up and innovation continues, many economists expect the green premium to shrink steadily, eventually making sustainable choices the more affordable option for most consumers.

When people consistently sleep too little, the body's hormonal balance shifts in ways that can quietly encourage weight gain. (A) Two hormones in particular play opposing roles in regulating appetite: leptin signals fullness to the brain, while ghrelin stimulates the sensation of hunger. (B) At the same time, insufficient sleep interferes with how efficiently the body processes glucose, making cells less responsive to insulin and leaving more sugar circulating in the bloodstream than usual. Over months or years, this combination of increased appetite and reduced insulin sensitivity can contribute to steady weight gain and raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. (C) Studies show that sleep deprivation lowers leptin levels while raising ghrelin levels, so a tired body ends up feeling hungrier than it actually needs to be, even after a normal-sized meal.

Sleep hygiene refers to a set of simple daily habits that help the body prepare for consistent, restorative rest. (A) They also advise reserving the bedroom for sleep alone, since using the bed to study, scroll through a phone, or watch videos teaches the brain to associate that space with wakeful activity rather than rest. (B) Physical environment matters as well: a cool, dark, and quiet room tends to produce deeper sleep than one that is warm, bright, or noisy. None of these individual habits guarantees a good night's sleep on its own, but together they form a routine that gradually trains the body to expect and enter sleep more easily, much the way a consistent set of cues trains an athlete's body to perform at a certain time each day. (C) Experts commonly recommend going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, even on weekends, because an irregular schedule confuses the body's internal clock and makes it harder to fall asleep on demand.

For centuries, dreams have fascinated scientists and philosophers alike, yet no single theory fully explains why the sleeping brain generates such vivid and often bizarre experiences. (A) Another theory proposes that dreams serve a more practical function, allowing the brain to rehearse responses to threats without any real danger, a kind of nightly simulation that may have offered early humans a survival advantage. (B) Still other researchers argue that dreaming is simply a byproduct of the brain organizing memories rather than serving any independent purpose, and because these theories rest on indirect evidence, none has been conclusively proven, leading many scientists to suspect that dreaming may serve several functions simultaneously. (C) One prominent idea suggests that dreaming helps the brain process emotional experiences, replaying difficult events in a safe, low-stakes environment so that their emotional intensity gradually fades.

This process, though it may sound simple, triggers a remarkable series of adaptations throughout the cardiovascular system. Aerobic exercise, such as jogging, swimming, or cycling at a steady pace, strengthens the heart by forcing it to pump larger volumes of blood with each beat. ( ① ) 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 beating fewer times per minute. ( ② ) This adaptation explains why trained athletes often have a much lower resting heart rate than sedentary individuals of the same age. ( ③ ) Beyond the heart itself, aerobic activity encourages the body to build new capillaries within muscle tissue, improving the delivery of oxygen and nutrients at a cellular level. ( ④ ) Researchers have also found that regular aerobic exercise reduces inflammation throughout the body and improves the way cells respond to insulin. ( ⑤ )