영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Until last spring, Minji rarely thought twice about ①**tossing** a paper cup into the trash after finishing her coffee. Environmental issues seemed distant, 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 ②**expected finding** boring. Instead, watching seabirds mistake plastic fragments for food ③**left** her strangely unsettled, and she found herself thinking about the assignment long after class ended. The next morning, almost without deciding to, she ④**slipped** her old tumbler into her backpack instead of buying a disposable cup on the way to school. It felt like a small, meaningless gesture at first. However, as weeks passed, she realized that consistently choosing the tumbler, ⑤**declining** a plastic straw, and reusing a shopping bag were quietly adding up. Small choices, she discovered, become meaningful once repeated.

Many people feel a sudden wave of anxiety when their smartphone battery is nearly dead or they have ①left it at home. This intense discomfort, known as nomophobia, is short for "no-mobile-phone phobia," a term ②describing the fear of losing connection to one's phone. Researchers explain that this fear develops because smartphones have become tightly linked to social belonging; missing a notification can feel like ③be cut off from friends. For example, some students check their phones dozens of times an hour, even during class, just to confirm nothing important ④has been missed. Recognizing nomophobia as a real psychological pattern ⑤is the first step toward a healthier relationship with technology.

Many people believe that ①building a new habit requires strong willpower or motivation. However, psychologist BJ Fogg argues that habits form more easily when a behavior itself ②become simple to perform. His theory, called the Fogg Behavior Model, states that a behavior happens only when motivation, ability, and a prompt ③occur together. When motivation is low, the model suggests, the task must ④be made extremely easy, or it will not happen at all. For instance, a person who wants to exercise daily succeeds more often by committing to one push-up than to a long workout. Fogg calls this idea the law of least effort, since people naturally choose the option ⑤requiring the least energy.

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.

Have you ever noticed that a ①finished 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 ②unpaid orders better than paid ones. Her observation led to what is now called the Zeigarnik effect: people remember ③incomplete tasks more vividly than completed ones. According to this theory, the mind maintains mental tension until a task reaches ④closure, keeping the unfinished task active in memory. Once the task is completed, the tension is ⑤released, and the mind lets go of the details.

A growing number of people are practicing what is now called digital detox, the deliberate decision to stop using smartphones for a set period. Rather than checking notifications every few minutes, participants unplug for a weekend, a week, or sometimes even longer. Numerous studies suggest that this temporary withdrawal produces ①real benefits for both the mind and the body. First, attention spans fragmented by constant notifications gradually ②recover, allowing people to concentrate on single tasks for longer stretches. Second, avoiding screens before bedtime ③worsens sleep quality, since blue light emitted by devices is known to disrupt natural sleep cycles. Third, people freed from their phones often rediscover the pleasure of face-to-face conversations that had been replaced by texting. Critics argue that complete disconnection is impractical in a hyperconnected society, yet even brief, regular breaks appear to ④restore balance. Therefore, scheduling periodic digital detox sessions deserves ⑤serious consideration.

Social psychologists describe a phenomenon called the bystander effect, in which individuals become less likely to help a victim as the number of witnesses increases. Each observer assumes someone else will step in, and this diffusion of responsibility leaves no one willing to act. Cyberbullying magnifies this problem, since a single humiliating post can be witnessed by thousands of people scattered across the internet rather than a few standing nearby. Anonymity intensifies the effect further, allowing silent observers to scroll past cruel comments without feeling accountable for their inaction. Some bystanders even worry that intervening publicly might make them the bully's next target, so they choose to remain silent instead. However, silence signals approval to both the bully and the audience watching the exchange unfold. Experts insist that even a single supportive comment can disrupt this harmful pattern. Therefore, witnesses online must _______________.

Psychologists have long studied a mechanism called the variable reward schedule, in which rewards arrive unpredictably rather than after every single action. Slot machines famously exploit this principle, and social media notifications operate on strikingly similar logic. When someone posts a photo, they cannot predict exactly when likes will appear, nor how many they will eventually receive. This uncertainty triggers a small burst of dopamine each time the phone is checked, regardless of whether the result is disappointing or thrilling. Consequently, users often refresh their feeds compulsively, hoping the next check will finally bring a satisfying reward. What makes this troubling is that technology companies deliberately designed notification systems using insights borrowed from gambling research, rather than stumbling upon them by accident. Such practices raise serious ethical questions about manipulating users' brains for profit. Therefore, people must _______________.

Goffman's original theory focused on face-to-face interaction, but researchers have expanded it to explain behavior on social media. (A) Unlike face-to-face encounters, online platforms allow users unlimited time to edit captions, retouch photos, and delete unflattering content before anyone sees it. (B) This expanded control means that online impression management can be even more deliberate and polished than anything Goffman originally observed in daily conversation. (C) As a result, some scholars argue that today's online performances create unrealistic standards that traditional face-to-face interactions never produced.

주어진 문장: Fortunately, this cycle is not impossible to reverse. An echo chamber refers to an online environment where people are mainly exposed to opinions that already match their own beliefs. ( ① ) This phenomenon occurs because social media algorithms tend to recommend content similar to what users have previously liked or shared, gradually narrowing the range of perspectives they encounter. ( ② ) As a result, individuals inside an echo chamber rarely engage with viewpoints that challenge their existing assumptions, which allows their original beliefs to grow increasingly extreme over time. ( ③ ) For example, someone who frequently reads articles supporting one political party may begin to see the opposing party as entirely unreasonable, having never seriously considered its arguments. ( ④ ) Political polarization, a significant issue in many countries today, is often linked to this pattern of selective exposure. ( ⑤ ) Breaking out of an echo chamber requires deliberately seeking information from diverse sources, even when those sources present uncomfortable or unfamiliar ideas.