영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Willpower is like a muscle that ①become tired after being used too much, so people often run out of self-control by the end of a busy day. Many resolutions are unrealistic from the beginning, since people set goals ②that are far too difficult to reach in a short time, and when a goal feels impossible, people quickly lose motivation and ③stop trying. Most resolutions, such as ④losing weight or saving money, do not offer any immediate reward, so people find it hard to stay motivated without seeing fast results. Understanding these reasons can help people ⑤design goals that are more realistic and rewarding.

A few years ago, spotting a manipulated video required a trained eye and ①specialized software. Today, freely available applications allow almost anyone to swap a face or fabricate a voice ②convincingly enough to fool casual viewers within minutes. This shift has quietly ③reinforced one of the oldest assumptions in human communication: that seeing and hearing something is a reasonably reliable way to confirm it happened. Journalists now face the burden of verifying footage that once would have been accepted as ④self-evident proof. Perhaps more troubling than any single fake video is the broader effect on public trust, in which genuine footage can be ⑤dismissed as fabricated simply because deepfakes exist.

Time-management researchers frequently mention a principle known as Parkinson's Law, which states that ___________. According to this idea, a task that could be finished in one hour will often stretch to fill an entire afternoon if that much time is scheduled for it. Students who set vague deadlines frequently experience this effect, spending extra hours refining a report that was already complete. Employees given a full week for a simple project may also delay meaningful progress until the final days, even though the actual work requires far less effort. This pattern happens partly because people unconsciously adjust their pace to match perceived urgency. Setting shorter, more specific deadlines can counter this tendency, forcing tasks to fit within a tighter and more realistic window. By recognizing how flexible time encourages unnecessary delay, individuals can complete assignments more efficiently without sacrificing quality.

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 ___________.

An echo chamber refers to an online environment where people are mainly exposed to opinions that already match their own beliefs. 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. 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. 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. Political polarization, a significant issue in many countries today, is often linked to this pattern of selective exposure. Breaking out of an echo chamber requires ___________.

Choice architecture is often praised for gently guiding people toward better decisions without limiting their freedom of choice. (A) For this reason, many public health officials now design forms so that healthy options are listed first and selected automatically. (B) Studies have found that simply changing the order in which cafeteria foods are displayed can shift what students choose to eat. (C) One striking illustration of this idea comes from school cafeterias, where the placement of food items strongly influences student behavior.

Nomophobia, short for "no-mobile-phone phobia," describes the intense anxiety many people feel when they are separated from their smartphones. (A) For instance, some individuals check their phones every few minutes even when they know no one has contacted them, simply to ease this fear. (B) This anxiety often includes physical symptoms such as a racing heart or sweating, especially when the phone's battery is running low or its signal disappears. (C) Because of these effects, experts recommend gradually limiting phone use to build tolerance for being disconnected.

The gap between popular belief and scientific evidence about habit formation has surprised many researchers. (A) This finding suggests that people who quit a new habit after only three weeks may simply be giving up too early, not failing at the habit itself. (B) Their results showed that habits took an average of sixty-six days to become automatic, far longer than the widely repeated twenty-one-day figure. (C) To test how long habit formation truly takes, scientists asked volunteers to track a new daily behavior for several months.

Whether or not a goal is motivating often depends on how clear it is. (A) For example, a student who simply decides to study harder often loses direction because the plan is too vague. (B) In contrast, a student who sets a clear goal, such as raising an English score by ten points, knows exactly what to do every day. (C) This is because a clear goal gives the brain an exact target to focus on, which makes progress easy to measure and keeps people motivated.

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