영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

On the first day of our improv theater workshop, the instructor ①gave us a rule that seemed impossible to follow: never say no to whatever another performer suggests. If a scene partner claimed the empty classroom was actually a submarine, our job was ②to accept that fact instantly and build on it, rather than correcting or rejecting the idea. I found this terrifying at first, since improv offers no script to hide behind and no time ③to plan a clever line in advance. Over several weeks, though, I noticed that the students who worried most about saying something wrong were usually the ones who froze on stage, while those who simply accepted whatever happened and reacted honestly ④creating the funniest, most memorable scenes. The instructor explained that improv is not really about being naturally quick-witted, but about ⑤trusting a partner's idea enough to build on it rather than protecting your own.

Long before calculus existed, the Greek philosopher Zeno constructed a series of paradoxes ①designed to show that motion itself might be logically impossible. In one version, a swift runner named Achilles races a slow-moving tortoise that ②is given a modest head start. Common sense insists that Achilles will quickly overtake the tortoise, yet Zeno's argument ③suggests otherwise. By the time Achilles reaches the tortoise's starting point, the tortoise has crawled a little further ahead, and this process ④repeating endlessly, generating an infinite number of smaller and smaller gaps that Achilles must apparently cross one after another. Modern mathematics eventually resolved the paradox by showing that an infinite series of shrinking distances can still sum to a finite total, ⑤allowing motion to be completed in a finite amount of time after all.

Insomnia is rarely caused by a single factor; it usually emerges from an interaction between psychological stress and physiological arousal that ①keeps the body from settling into sleep. A common trigger is what researchers call cognitive hyperarousal, in which the mind continues ②to racing with worries about work, relationships, or even the inability to sleep itself, creating a frustrating cycle where anxiety about insomnia becomes a cause of insomnia. At the same time, the body's stress response system can become chronically activated, ③releasing hormones such as cortisol that keep heart rate and body temperature elevated at night, both of which interfere with the natural drop in arousal needed to fall asleep. Poor sleep habits, including irregular bedtimes and excessive screen use before bed, can further ④weaken the body's internal signals for sleep onset. Because these psychological and physiological factors reinforce one another, effective treatment for chronic insomnia addresses both the racing mind and the underlying pattern of physical tension, rather than ⑤relying on medication alone.

Scientists have identified certain gene variants that ①appear more frequently among elite endurance athletes than among the general population, along with a separate set that seems to favor explosive, power-based sports such as sprinting. One frequently studied variant, for instance, ②influences the proportion of slow-twitch versus fast-twitch muscle fibers a person naturally develops, a ratio that shapes whether a body leans toward endurance or explosive power. However, researchers caution strongly against ③interpreting these findings as evidence that athletic greatness is simply inherited. Even athletes who carry every favorable variant identified so far still require years of disciplined training ④to translate that genetic potential into actual performance, and many elite competitors lack some of these supposedly advantageous variants altogether. Genetics may set a rough ceiling on an individual's ultimate potential, but where any particular athlete lands within that range ⑤depend overwhelmingly on training quality, nutrition, coaching, and sheer determination.

Athletes preparing for major endurance events sometimes train for weeks at high altitude, where the air contains ①less oxygen than at sea level, in hopes of gaining a physiological edge once they return to compete at lower elevations. In this thin air, the body responds by producing ②fewer red blood cells, which carry oxygen more efficiently through the bloodstream to working muscles. When these athletes return to sea level, where oxygen is more abundant, their blood retains this elevated capacity for a limited period, potentially translating into ③improved endurance performance. However, the benefits of altitude training are far from guaranteed, since individual athletes respond quite ④differently to the same conditions, and some experience excessive fatigue that undermines the very training they hoped to complete. Many elite programs therefore follow a strategy known as live high, train low, in which athletes sleep at altitude to ⑤stimulate blood adaptations but perform intense workouts at lower elevation to maintain quality and intensity.

Sleep is not a single, uniform state but a cycle that alternates between two very different modes: REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep. During non-REM sleep, especially its deepest stage, the brain waves slow down dramatically, the body temperature drops, and tissue repair and growth hormone release reach their peak. This is the period most closely associated with physical restoration. REM sleep, by contrast, brings rapid eye movements, near-total muscle paralysis, and brain activity that closely resembles wakefulness. Most vivid dreaming occurs during this stage, and researchers believe _______________. A healthy night typically cycles through both stages four or five times, with non-REM dominating the early hours and REM periods lengthening toward morning. Disrupting either stage, through frequent awakenings or alcohol use, can leave a person feeling unrested even after a full night in bed.

Team sports place athletes in a uniquely social form of competition, one where individual skill alone rarely determines the outcome of a match. (A) Sports psychologists have long studied why some groups of talented individual players fail to perform as a cohesive unit while other, less individually skilled teams consistently exceed expectations. (B) Trust among teammates appears to be a decisive factor, since players who believe their teammates will reliably fulfill their roles are more willing to take the calculated risks that winning often requires. (C) Clear and consistent communication during high-pressure moments further reduces the hesitation and confusion that can unravel a team's coordination in front of a crowd.

Researchers who study teenagers have found a strong link between how well students sleep and how well they perform in school. (A) Students who sleep fewer than seven hours a night tend to score lower on tests of memory and attention than those who sleep eight or nine hours, even when the two groups study for the same number of hours. (B) One explanation is that sleep plays an active role in learning: during certain stages of sleep, the brain replays and strengthens information encountered during the day, converting fragile short-term memories into more durable long-term ones. (C) When sleep is cut short, this consolidation process is interrupted before it can finish, so material that seemed well understood the night before often feels unfamiliar the next morning. For this reason, some schools have begun rethinking early start times, reasoning that an extra hour of sleep might do more for test scores than an extra hour of studying ever could.

Working memory refers to the mental workspace in which information is temporarily held and manipulated while a person performs a cognitive task. Such tasks include solving an arithmetic problem, following a rapid conversation, or holding a phone number in mind before dialing it. (A) Subsequent research, however, revealed that Miller's estimate was somewhat generous, since it failed to account for the complexity of the material being remembered. Nelson Cowan later argued that when rehearsal strategies are prevented and attention is tightly controlled, genuine capacity hovers closer to four items rather than seven. (B) This discrepancy suggests that what earlier studies had measured was not raw storage capacity itself but a hybrid quantity inflated by clever strategies. Contemporary psychologists therefore distinguish between the fixed limit of working memory and the flexible techniques that allow individuals to transcend that limit. (C) In the mid-twentieth century, the psychologist George Miller proposed that this workspace could accommodate roughly seven discrete items. His claim proved so influential that it became widely known as the magic number seven.

Amateur athletes often credit this kind of guidance with helping them train more consistently without pushing their bodies too hard. A smartwatch strapped to a runner's wrist can now do far more than simply count steps; it monitors heart rate variability, running form, and recovery time, then uses that data to suggest a training plan tailored to the individual rather than a generic weekly schedule. ( ① ) When the device detects signs of overtraining, such as an unusually high resting heart rate several mornings in a row, it may recommend a lighter workout or an extra rest day before fatigue turns into an actual injury. ( ② ) Sports scientists note an important caveat, however. ( ③ ) A wrist-based sensor cannot fully capture the same physiological detail available in a professional lab. ( ④ ) Its suggestions should be treated as a helpful guideline rather than an infallible medical judgment, particularly for anyone managing a chronic health condition. ( ⑤ )