영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Many students assume that perfectionists work harder than everyone else, but psychologists describe a puzzling pattern ①called the perfectionism-procrastination cycle. This term describes how an intense fear of imperfect work ②cause people to delay starting a task rather than begin it. Because perfectionists set impossibly high standards, they often feel anxious before they even begin, and the task feels ③overwhelming. They then postpone the work to avoid ④facing their own unrealistic expectations, even though delay only increases their stress later. For example, a student writing a research paper might spend hours reorganizing notes instead of composing a single sentence that ⑤feels good enough.

When Mina was a freshman, she often spent her allowance within a few days. Her older cousin told her about the marshmallow experiment, a famous study in which children could eat one marshmallow ①immediately or wait for two. Researchers found that children who waited ②longer showed better academic performance and self-control years later. This ability to ③resist an immediate reward in favor of a larger future one is known as delayed gratification. Inspired by the study, Mina began saving half of her allowance each week instead of spending it all on snacks. At first, resisting small purchases felt surprisingly ④easy, especially when her friends were eating out. After three months, however, she had ⑤saved enough to buy a bicycle she had wanted for over a year.

Minji spent nearly every evening watching Jimin, an online creator who streamed cooking videos and chatted casually with her viewers. Over several months, Minji began to feel as though she truly knew Jimin, laughing at her jokes and worrying whenever she mentioned having a difficult week. Whenever Jimin responded to a comment, even a simple one, Minji felt a small thrill of connection, as if they were becoming closer friends. One day, Minji excitedly waited outside a fan event, hoping that Jimin would recognize her from the countless messages she had sent. However, Jimin greeted her the same way she greeted every other stranger in line, without any hint of personal recognition. Standing there, Minji slowly realized that ___________.

Last January, Minji wrote the same resolution she always wrote: study English for an hour every day. By February, she had already quit, just as in previous years. Frustrated, she asked her teacher why her willpower always failed, and learned about a concept called ___________. This idea, developed by psychologists, means forming a specific if-then plan that links a certain situation to a certain action in advance. Instead of vaguely intending to study more, Minji made a precise plan: if she finished dinner, then she would study for thirty minutes.

Have you ever noticed that an unfinished task keeps returning to your mind long after you stopped working? This phenomenon was first noticed by psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who saw that waiters remembered unpaid orders better than paid ones. Her observation led to what is now called the Zeigarnik effect: ___________. According to this theory, the mind maintains mental tension until a task reaches closure, keeping the unfinished task active in memory.

Habit researchers often note that people overestimate the role of motivation in daily routines. (A) As a result, they frequently give up soon after starting, blaming themselves for lacking discipline. (B) In contrast, Fogg's framework suggests that shrinking the task itself is more effective than boosting motivation. (C) Because motivation naturally rises and falls, relying on it alone often leads to inconsistent effort.

The two-minute rule offers a simple but powerful strategy for anyone who struggles to begin a new habit. (A) Once the habit of showing up regularly is established, the duration or intensity of the activity can gradually increase without much resistance. (B) The idea behind this rule is that most people quit a new habit not because the activity itself is difficult, but because starting feels intimidating. (C) By reducing a habit to something as simple as reading one page or doing one push-up, the initial hesitation to begin nearly disappears.

주어진 문장: This spreading of feelings was traditionally assumed to require physical cues like facial expressions or vocal tone. Have you ever noticed your mood shifting after scrolling through a friend's gloomy post online? ( ① ) This phenomenon, known as emotional contagion, refers to the tendency of one person's feelings to spread to others nearby, almost like a cold passing between classmates. ( ② ) Psychologists once studied this effect mainly through face-to-face interactions, such as tone of voice. ( ③ ) However, researchers have discovered that emotional contagion also occurs online, where only text or images are exchanged, without any physical presence at all. ( ④ ) For instance, when someone posts a negative comment beneath a cheerful photo, the comments that follow often turn noticeably more negative in tone. In contrast, a single kind comment can shift an entire thread toward positivity within minutes. ( ⑤ ) This suggests that emotions online spread through carefully chosen words alone. Consequently, many experts now argue that being mindful of what we post matters more than we typically assume.

주어진 문장: This is why a ten-minute wait for test results can feel far longer than a ten-minute conversation with a close friend. Have you ever felt a boring class lasted forever while an exciting weekend disappeared in an instant? ( ① ) This common experience reflects what psychologists call the distortion of time perception: subjective time can differ from actual clock time. ( ② ) Researchers explain that people who focus intensely on an enjoyable activity process fewer separate moments, so time seems to pass quickly. ( ③ ) In contrast, bored or anxious people pay closer attention to each moment, making time feel as though it is dragging. ( ④ ) When people become deeply engaged in a task, they often lose track of time, unaware of how many minutes have passed. For example, athletes and musicians often say that hours felt like minutes while they were fully absorbed in performance. Meanwhile, students waiting anxiously for exam results describe the same few minutes as unbearably slow. ( ⑤ ) Understanding this distortion helps explain why identical time intervals can feel very different depending on mental state.

주어진 문장: Vague intentions, by contrast, give the brain no clear signal about when effort should begin or end. Setting a goal such as 'I will study harder' rarely leads to meaningful improvement. ( ① ) According to psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, specific and challenging goals produce far better performance than vague or easy ones. ( ② ) This idea, known as goal-setting theory, suggests that clear targets direct attention and sustain effort over time. ( ③ ) To apply this theory effectively, many educators recommend the SMART framework, which requires goals to be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. ( ④ ) For instance, a student following this framework might say, 'I will memorize thirty new words every week for two months.' Because the goal includes a clear number and a deadline, progress becomes easy to track and evaluate. Challenging goals also tend to increase motivation, since people often work harder when a target feels meaningfully difficult rather than trivially simple. ( ⑤ )