영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

ESG management ①refers to a company's efforts to consider Environmental, Social, and Governance factors alongside profit when making business decisions. Investors increasingly rely on ESG ratings to judge whether a company is ②managed responsibly and sustainably over the long term. Recently, however, many corporations have learned to boost their ESG scores without genuinely transforming their operations. Some firms publish glossy reports ③filled with impressive statistics while their actual carbon emissions barely decline, exploiting the fact that ESG evaluation systems still lack consistent global standards. This gap between appearance and substance has led critics to demand stricter, more transparent criteria for ④measuring corporate responsibility. Genuine ESG management, in contrast, requires measurable targets, independent audits, and long-term accountability rather than one-time donations or attractive slogans. Investors who wish to identify truly responsible companies should therefore examine detailed disclosures instead of ⑤trust labels alone.

Behavioral economists use the term status quo bias to describe a tendency to prefer the present situation over a new alternative, even when the alternative ①**would brought** greater benefits. This bias helps explain why many households hesitate ②**to switch** to renewable energy, such as installing solar panels on their roofs. Although solar panels can lower electricity bills over time, homeowners often stick with their current power source because it feels safe and ③**requires** no immediate effort. In contrast, switching demands research, upfront cost, and trust in unfamiliar technology, all of which can ④**seem** risky compared with doing nothing. For example, a neighborhood association might repeatedly postpone a vote on shared solar panels, not because the plan is flawed, but because members are ⑤**reluctant to leave** their routine. Therefore, boosting renewable adoption may depend less on proving its advantages and more on designing programs that make the first step feel easy.

For decades, athletes were taught to stretch a muscle and hold the position before any competition, believing that this practice alone would ① prevent injury. Recent research, however, has complicated that assumption considerably. Static stretching, in which a muscle is held at its longest length for an extended period, can actually ② reduce the muscle's ability to generate explosive force immediately afterward, which is troubling for sprinters or jumpers who need maximum power right away. Dynamic stretching, which involves controlled, repeated movement through a joint's full range of motion, appears to ③ prepare muscles for activity without this temporary weakening effect. As a result, many coaches now recommend ④ saving static stretching for after a workout, when it may help restore muscle length and reduce soreness, while reserving dynamic movements for the warm-up period before intense effort begins. The right technique, in other words, depends heavily on ⑤ chance.

For centuries, dreams have ① fascinated scientists and philosophers alike, yet no single theory fully explains why the sleeping brain generates such vivid and often bizarre experiences. One prominent idea suggests that dreaming helps the brain process emotional experiences, replaying difficult events in a ② safe, low-stakes environment so that their emotional intensity gradually fades. Another theory proposes that dreams serve a more practical function, allowing the brain to ③ ignore responses to threats without any real danger, a kind of nightly simulation that may have offered early humans a survival advantage. Still other researchers argue that dreaming is simply a byproduct of the brain organizing memories, with vivid imagery arising as the mind sorts through the day's ④ information rather than serving any independent purpose of its own. Because these theories rest on indirect evidence, none has been ⑤ conclusively proven.

A small riverside village had endured severe flooding almost every summer, watching helplessly as rising water damaged homes and destroyed crops year after year. Frustrated residents eventually decided to _______________. Engineers widened the drainage canals surrounding the village, allowing excess rainwater to flow away more efficiently instead of pooling in low-lying streets. Meanwhile, several families whose houses stood in the most vulnerable areas relocated to higher ground, even though leaving their long-time homes was emotionally difficult. The village also installed an early warning system that sent alerts to residents' phones whenever river levels rose dangerously fast. When a powerful storm struck three years later, the new measures proved effective, and the village suffered only minor damage instead of the devastating losses it had previously faced. Their resilience became a model for neighboring communities.

Imagine a cafeteria where a healthy salad sits at eye level while fried snacks rest on a low shelf. Nobody is forbidden from choosing the snacks, yet most people quietly pick the salad instead. This simple technique illustrates a nudge, a concept from behavioral economics _______________. Companies and governments increasingly apply nudges to encourage sustainable consumption. For example, some hotels print reminders on towels stating that most guests reuse them, which persuades new guests to do the same and save water. Similarly, energy bills that compare a household's usage with that of efficient neighbors often lead people to reduce electricity use. Unlike strict regulations or heavy taxes, nudges rely on subtle changes in design rather than force. Critics argue nudges alone cannot solve large environmental problems, but combined with stronger policies, they can meaningfully shift everyday habits toward sustainability.

When people encounter solid scientific evidence about climate change, we might expect them to accept it without hesitation. However, many individuals still dismiss or downplay such evidence, and psychologists explain this pattern through a concept called motivated reasoning. Motivated reasoning refers to _______________. For example, a person whose livelihood depends on the fossil fuel industry may unconsciously search for reasons to doubt climate data, even while claiming to value scientific accuracy. This happens because accepting uncomfortable facts can threaten a person's sense of self or demand costly lifestyle changes. Therefore, simply presenting more data rarely persuades a committed skeptic. Instead, experts suggest connecting climate information to values the person already holds, such as family safety or economic stability, so that acceptance feels natural rather than threatening.

After a strenuous workout, muscle fibers experience thousands of microscopic tears, and the body immediately begins a repair process that depends heavily on amino acids, the building blocks that protein supplies. This is why sports scientists recommend consuming protein within a couple of hours after training, since _______________. Many athletes assume that eating an enormous quantity of protein in a single sitting will speed up this process, but the body can only use a limited amount at once; the rest is simply burned for energy or stored as fat.

The clothing industry has become one of the largest contributors to environmental pollution worldwide. (A) Fast fashion refers to cheap, trendy clothing produced quickly and replaced almost as fast as it is bought. Because these garments are designed to be worn only a few times, huge amounts of fabric end up in landfills every year, and the dyeing process pollutes rivers near factories. (B) For example, some companies collect old clothes, break down the fibers, and weave them into new fabric, while others let customers rent outfits for special occasions rather than buying garments they will barely wear. These approaches keep resources circulating within the system longer, reducing demand for raw materials. Therefore, shifting from a throwaway habit toward a circular one may be essential for making the fashion industry sustainable. (C) In contrast, a growing number of brands are turning toward the circular economy, an economic model in which materials are reused, repaired, or recycled instead of being thrown away after a single use.

During sleep, the brain does not simply rest; it actively reorganizes the day's experiences into lasting memories through a process called consolidation. (A) Sleep researchers have demonstrated this effect experimentally: participants who slept after learning a list of word pairs recalled more items the next day than participants who remained awake instead. Crucially, the benefit was not limited to simple recall; sleep also seemed to help participants extract general patterns from the material, suggesting that consolidation involves more than passive storage. (B) Newly formed memories are initially fragile and stored primarily in a brain region called the hippocampus, which has limited long-term capacity. (C) While a person sleeps, particularly during the deep stages of non-REM sleep, neural activity replays these fresh memory traces in rapid, compressed sequences, gradually transferring the information to the cortex for more durable, long-term storage. This replay strengthens the connections between neurons that encoded the original experience, making the memory more resistant to interference from unrelated events the following day.