영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

Caffeine is the most widely consumed stimulant in the world, ① prizing for its ability to sharpen focus and fight off fatigue within minutes of consumption. It works by blocking adenosine, a chemical that gradually builds up in the brain throughout the day and ② makes us feel increasingly sleepy the longer we stay awake. By occupying the receptors that adenosine would normally bind to, caffeine tricks the brain into ③ feeling alert even when the body has accumulated significant sleep pressure. The effects, however, last far longer than most people realize. Because caffeine can remain active in the bloodstream for five to six hours, a cup of coffee ④ consumed in the late afternoon may still be interfering with the ability to fall asleep at midnight. Even when people do not consciously notice difficulty falling asleep, caffeine has been shown ⑤ to reduce the amount of deep, restorative sleep obtained later in the night.

As efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions intensify, industries unable to eliminate carbon dioxide from their processes have turned to a technology ①known as carbon capture and storage. This technology involves ②separating carbon dioxide from the exhaust of power plants before it is released into the atmosphere, then transporting the captured gas for underground injection. Once injected into porous rock formations, the gas is trapped beneath layers of impermeable rock that ③prevents it from escaping into the air. Proponents argue that carbon capture and storage functions as a bridge technology, allowing heavy industries to keep operating while more sustainable alternatives are developed. For instance, cement and steel production, both of which ④release carbon dioxide as an unavoidable byproduct of chemical reactions, are considered prime candidates for this approach. However, critics contend that the technology remains prohibitively expensive and that building pipelines requires investments few companies make voluntarily. Despite such concerns, many governments continue ⑤funding pilot projects, convinced that this technology will play an indispensable role in reaching emission targets.

Among the many strategies proposed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, one of the oldest ①draw on an agricultural technique predating modern industry, converting organic material into a stable form of charcoal known as biochar. Biochar is ②produced through pyrolysis, a process in which crop residues or wood chips are heated in an environment with little or no oxygen, ③preventing the material from burning away as in an open fire. This process leaves behind a carbon-rich solid that resists decomposition far longer than raw organic matter, locking carbon in a form remaining stable in soil for centuries. When mixed into farmland, biochar also improves soil structure, ④retaining moisture and nutrients otherwise lost, which can boost crop yields in depleted soils. For example, farmers ⑤cultivating nutrient-poor tropical soils have reported measurable increases in productivity after adding biochar.

Emissions trading, a market-based mechanism for ①curbing greenhouse gases, allows governments to set an overall limit on carbon output while letting firms trade permits within that limit. Under this system, ②known as cap-and-trade, companies that cut emissions more cheaply than required can sell surplus allowances to firms facing higher reduction costs. Proponents argue that this flexibility lets society reach a given environmental target at the lowest overall cost, since abatement shifts toward whoever can ③achieve it most economically. Critics, however, ④contends that trading schemes frequently allocate too many permits, a flaw that has historically depressed carbon prices and blunted incentives to invest in cleaner technology. For example, early phases of several regional markets granted allowances so generously that permit prices collapsed, ⑤leaving polluters with little pressure to change their practices.

Our class field trip to the national art museum began with a worksheet that I initially found ① annoying, since it asked us to stand in front of a single painting for a full five minutes before moving on. Five minutes felt unbearably long for one picture, and I nearly skipped ahead to the next room. Forcing myself to stay, however, I began noticing details that a quick glance would have missed entirely: a faint second figure hidden in the shadows, brushstrokes that grew ② rougher toward the edges of the canvas, a color repeated in three unrelated corners. My initial impression of the painting as simply pleasant slowly became something closer to ③ fascination. Our teacher later explained that most museum visitors spend under fifteen seconds per artwork on average, which means they experience galleries as a ④ sharp, detailed collection of individual works. That single afternoon taught me that patience, not expertise, is often the only thing separating a bored visitor from an amazed one.

A shocking headline can spread across social media within minutes, long before anyone checks whether it is actually true. Studies show that false stories often travel ① slower than accurate ones, partly because surprising or emotional claims get shared more quickly than careful, balanced reporting. To handle this flood of information, students today need a skill that previous generations rarely had to practice: checking a source before believing it. Simple habits can make a ② real difference, such as looking for the original source of a claim, checking the date an article was published, and searching to see whether other trustworthy outlets are reporting the same story. Media literacy classes now teach students to ③ pause before they share anything, asking who wrote it and why. This small pause, teachers say, is often the only thing standing between a curious reader and a piece of ④ convincing misinformation, protecting not only the reader but everyone in their online ⑤ network.

When I finally got the chance to interview a professional webtoon artist for our school newspaper, I expected her to describe drawing as the hardest part of her job. Instead, she told me that writing the story comes first, often taking longer than the artwork itself. She sketches rough thumbnails for an entire chapter before touching a single detailed panel, testing whether the pacing keeps readers scrolling instead of losing interest halfway through. She also reads every comment section carefully, not to copy what fans suggest, but to understand which moments made readers feel something real. What surprised me most was learning that _______________. Her honesty made me realize that the smooth, effortless feeling of a good webtoon is actually the product of countless invisible decisions.

When temperatures drop below freezing overnight, an invisible layer of black ice can form on sidewalks that look perfectly dry, catching even careful walkers off guard. (A) Walking with shorter, flatter steps and keeping the hands free rather than in pockets can help a person regain balance quickly if a foot suddenly slides. (B) Orthopedic doctors report a sharp rise in wrist and hip injuries every winter, most of them caused not by dramatic slips on icy hills but by a single unexpected step near a bus stop or a doorway. (C) Unlike a visibly icy patch, black ice reflects almost no light and blends into ordinary pavement, which is why so many falls happen on stretches that pedestrians would never suspect.

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.

Even the strangest idea, however small, had to be treated as completely real. On the first day of our improv theater workshop, the instructor gave us a rule that seemed impossible to follow: never say no to whatever another performer suggests. ( ① ) If a scene partner claimed the empty classroom was actually a submarine, our job was to accept that fact instantly and build on it, rather than correcting or rejecting the idea. ( ② ) I found this terrifying at first, since improv offers no script to hide behind and no time to plan a clever line in advance. ( ③ ) 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 created the funniest, most memorable scenes. ( ④ ) The instructor explained that improv is not really about being naturally quick-witted, but about trusting a partner's idea enough to build on it rather than protecting your own. ( ⑤ )