영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Psychologists have long studied a mechanism called the variable reward schedule, in which rewards ①arrive 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 ②how many they will eventually receive. This uncertainty triggers a small burst of dopamine each time the phone ③is checked, regardless of whether the result is disappointing or thrilling. Consequently, users often refresh their feeds compulsively, ④hoping 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 ⑤stumble upon them by accident.

Last Saturday, Jimin visited the recycling center near her apartment with her science class. She ①had expected the place to be dirty and unpleasant, but the center looked clean and well organized. A worker named Mr. Park guided the students through each area, ②explaining how bottles, cans, and paper were sorted. He showed them a machine ③that crushed plastic bottles into small pieces before they were sent to factories. Jimin was surprised to learn that mixed trash, ④thrown into the wrong bin, often ruined an entire batch of recyclables. For example, one greasy pizza box could contaminate a whole pile of clean paper. However, when items were sorted correctly, they could be reused many times, almost like ingredients in a favorite recipe. ⑤Walked home, Jimin realized that her small effort at home truly mattered.

A small riverside village had ①endured severe flooding almost every summer, watching helplessly as rising water damaged homes and destroyed crops year after year. Frustrated residents eventually decided to pursue climate adaptation, adjusting their infrastructure and habits to reduce the damage caused by increasingly unpredictable weather. 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 ②vulnerable 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 ③useless, and the village suffered only minor damage instead of the ④devastating losses it had previously faced. Their ⑤resilience became a model for neighboring communities.

Behavioral economists use the term temporal discounting to describe how people ①undervalue future rewards simply because those rewards are not immediate. This tendency explains why a student might choose to watch videos tonight rather than study for an exam that remains several weeks away, even though studying offers a ②smaller long-term benefit. A distant reward, no matter how valuable, feels psychologically smaller than a small reward available right now. This bias contributes to procrastination, since future consequences rarely feel ③urgent enough to motivate immediate action. To counter this tendency, students should ④convert distant goals into smaller, near-term milestones that feel more emotionally real. Setting weekly checkpoints rather than a final deadline can make future benefits feel ⑤closer and more concrete.

Many teenagers check their social media accounts dozens of times a day, worried that they might miss something important happening among their friends. This anxiety, known as FOMO, or the fear of missing out, arises when people believe that others are enjoying experiences from which they themselves are excluded. For example, a student scrolling through photos of a party she was not invited to may suddenly feel a wave of loneliness and regret, even though the event has already ended. Constantly refreshing feeds to avoid missing such updates, however, makes it difficult to concentrate on schoolwork or conversations happening in the present moment. Moreover, this endless comparison with curated highlights of other people's lives tends to deepen feelings of anxiety rather than relieve them. Therefore, students should learn to ___________.

Psychologist Roy Baumeister proposed a concept called ego depletion theory, which suggests that ___________. According to this theory, every act of self-control, from resisting a snack to concentrating on difficult homework, draws from the same limited mental resource. As this resource becomes depleted 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 struggle 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 restore this depleted resource. Although later studies have questioned how strong this effect is, the theory still offers a useful framework for understanding why willpower seems to fade throughout a long day.

The classification of platform workers has become one of the most debated issues in modern labor law. (A) For this reason, companies generally prefer classifying these workers as independent contractors rather than full employees. (B) Being classified this way, however, means workers miss out on protections such as minimum wage and paid leave. (C) Employee status requires companies to provide benefits and follow strict labor regulations, which increases operating costs.

This weekly ritual might sound unusual to anyone who has only ever read a novel alone. Every Wednesday evening, a small group meets in the corner of a quiet cafe, coffee cups in hand, ready to talk about a book they have all just finished. ( ① ) This is a book club, and its members insist that reading the same novel together changes the experience completely. ( ② ) Alone, a reader usually forms one interpretation and rarely questions it again. ( ③ ) In a group, however, one member's small comment about a minor character can suddenly change how everyone else understood the whole story. ( ④ ) Members also say that having a discussion planned in advance pushes them to finish books they might otherwise put down halfway through. ( ⑤ ) Perhaps the greatest benefit is social rather than literary: strangers from very different backgrounds discover that they share the same doubts, laughter, and surprises over the very same pages.

주어진 문장: Without such outside checks, companies could easily present exaggerated or even false claims as genuine achievements. As consumers become more aware of global social and environmental issues, many now expect companies to take responsibility beyond simply selling products. ( ① ) This expectation has given rise to ethical consumption, in which shoppers consider factors such as fair wages, humane treatment of animals, and environmental sustainability before making purchases. ( ② ) Companies that ignore these concerns risk public backlash, especially when unethical practices are exposed through investigative journalism or social media. ( ③ ) Some corporations have responded by publishing detailed sustainability reports, though critics question whether these documents reflect genuine change or merely serve as public relations tools. ( ④ ) Real accountability, according to many experts, requires independent verification rather than self-reported claims that cannot be easily checked. ( ⑤ ) Consumers, for their part, must also remain vigilant, since a company's marketing language does not always match its actual practices.

In other words, no single app may intend to expose such sensitive information, but the combination of many small pieces can. Every time a smartphone connects to a cell tower or a Wi-Fi network, it quietly records a data point that can later be pieced together into a detailed map of where its owner has been. ( ① ) Most users agree to this tracking without reading the fine print, assuming that a single company's database poses little threat. ( ② ) The real danger, however, emerges when location data from multiple sources is combined. ( ③ ) A pattern that reveals a person's home, workplace, and daily route can expose far more than any single app ever intended to share, including medical visits or private relationships. ( ④ ) Companies often argue that anonymized data cannot be traced back to individuals, yet researchers have repeatedly shown otherwise. ( ⑤ )