영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Biodegradable plastics have been promoted as a promising solution to plastic waste, since they ①are designed to decompose into natural substances rather than persist for centuries. Manufacturers derive these materials from renewable resources such as corn starch, blending them with additives that ②accelerates microbial breakdown once discarded. However, their environmental benefits are often exaggerated, largely because decomposition depends on specific conditions rarely ③found outside industrial composting facilities. For example, a bag labeled biodegradable may take years, not the weeks advertised, to break down in a landfill or ocean, where temperature and microbial activity remain low. In addition, when mixed with conventional plastics in recycling streams, they can contaminate the process, ④weakening the quality of materials produced afterward. Some engineers therefore compare biodegradable plastics to a bridge that leads nowhere unless paired with infrastructure that completes the journey. Ultimately, realizing their genuine potential requires not only technological refinement but also facilities capable of ⑤providing the precise conditions decomposition demands.

Long before cognitive scientists possessed the tools to observe the brain directly, Donald Broadbent proposed an influential model suggesting that the human capacity to process incoming sensory information ①constrained by a structural bottleneck through which only a single stream of input can pass at any given instant. According to this filter theory, multiple channels of stimulation, such as competing voices in a crowded room, ②are initially registered at a shallow, physical level, but only one channel is selected for further, meaning-based analysis while the rest are blocked from advancing beyond that early filter. Although later researchers challenged the rigidity of this early selection mechanism, ③pointing to instances in which unattended information, such as one's own name, nevertheless ④breaks through and captures awareness, the core insight that attention imposes a genuine processing limit rather than a mere matter of willpower has remained remarkably durable. This basic bottleneck principle ⑤continues to inform contemporary explanations of why multitasking so reliably degrades performance on demanding tasks.

As solar and wind power expand rapidly across national grids, engineers face a challenge that ①receive far less public attention than the construction of the generating facilities themselves. Unlike conventional power plants, which can adjust their output to match demand at almost any moment, solar panels and wind turbines generate electricity only when sunlight or wind is available, ②producing supply that fluctuates constantly. One proposed solution involves large-scale battery storage systems, ③which absorb surplus electricity generated during periods of high output and release it later when generation declines. Grid operators must therefore invest in infrastructure capable of ④accommodating this variability, rather than assuming renewable sources can simply replace fossil fuels without adjustment. Without such investment, integrating renewable energy could paradoxically undermine the very reliability that modern electricity grids are ⑤expected to provide.

Last New Year's Day, I wrote three goals in my diary: reading more books, exercising regularly, and saving money for a bicycle. Today, exactly one year later, I opened that old page and smiled at how much ①has changed. I did not finish all twelve books I had planned, but I read six, ②which was still more than the year before. Saving money was harder than I expected, since unexpected expenses ③kept appearing. My exercise habit became the biggest surprise, and I now run almost every morning without ④feeling forced. Looking back, I realized that progress does not always match the original plan, and what matters more is that I kept trying, adjusted my methods, and ⑤to learn something new about myself along the way.

Modern consumer culture often assumes that expanding the range of available options ①will automatically makes people freer and happier, yet a growing body of research suggests the opposite may sometimes be true. When individuals select from an enormous set of alternatives, satisfaction with the final choice frequently declines rather than rises, even when the chosen item ②is objectively excellent. This decline stems not from the difficulty of deciding but from what happens afterward, once a decision ③has already been made. Having considered so many possibilities, a person naturally imagines the specific advantages that a different, unchosen option ④might have offered, and this imagined comparison quietly erodes contentment with what was actually selected. The paradox, therefore, is that abundance can free people from external constraint while simultaneously ⑤trapping them in a private cycle of comparison and regret.

Riding a bicycle is a great way to stay active during summer vacation, but safety should always come ①first. Wearing a helmet is essential, since it can ②prevent serious head injuries in an accident. It is also important to wear bright or reflective clothing so that drivers can see you ③clearly. Riders should always follow traffic signals and ride in the same direction as traffic, never against it, since going against traffic makes accidents much ④less likely. Carrying a water bottle is wise, since dehydration can cause dizziness and affect your ⑤balance.

Last summer, our neighborhood association invited students to help paint a mural on the long wall beside the community center, and nearly forty volunteers with completely different painting abilities showed up on the first day. I worried that combining so many different skill levels would create an ugly, mismatched result, since some volunteers had painted for years while others, including me, had never held a large brush before. The project leader solved this by _______________. Beginners filled in wide open skies, while experienced painters added fine details like veins on leaves or shadows under birds. When the plastic sheets finally came down, the mural looked remarkably unified, not despite the many different hands involved, but because each hand had been given a task suited to what it could do well.

Only a decade ago, translation apps produced sentences so awkward that users often laughed at the results rather than trusting them. (A) Frequent travelers now point their phone cameras at street signs and receive an instant translation overlaid on the screen, thanks to this leap in accuracy. (B) Even so, the technology still struggles with humor, sarcasm, and cultural nuance, areas where a single wrong word can completely change the intended meaning. (C) Today, many of these apps rely on neural networks that analyze entire sentences at once, capturing context instead of translating word by word.

Psychologists studying human judgment often describe the mind as operating through two distinct systems rather than a single unified process. (A) This efficiency comes at a cost, however, because System 1's shortcuts can produce systematic errors that an overburdened System 2 rarely catches. (B) Most daily decisions are therefore handled almost entirely by System 1, which allows people to function efficiently without exhausting their limited mental resources. (C) System 1 works quickly and automatically, generating impressions without any noticeable effort, while System 2 is slow and deliberate, engaged only when a problem requires careful reasoning.

Once the initial tremor passes, however, the danger does not simply disappear. Earthquakes strike without any warning, which is exactly why the seconds immediately after the shaking begins matter more than any other moment in an emergency. ( ① ) Safety experts consistently teach the same three steps: drop to the ground, take cover under sturdy furniture, and hold on until the shaking stops. ( ② ) Many people instinctively want to run outside during a quake, imagining that open space is always safer than a building, but this instinct can be dangerous, since falling glass, signs, and debris often cause more injuries near exits and windows than sturdy interior spaces do. ( ③ ) Furniture that seems merely inconvenient during a fire drill, such as a heavy desk, becomes a lifesaving shield when the ceiling above begins to crack. ( ④ ) After the shaking stops, experts warn that the greatest remaining danger is often a damaged structure rather than a second earthquake. ( ⑤ ) So calmly checking for hazards before moving is just as important as reacting quickly at the first tremor.