영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

When choosing a future career, students often face a common question: should I follow what I love, or what I ①being good at? Passion can provide strong motivation, ②pushing a person to practice for hours without feeling tired. However, loving an activity does not always mean a person will become skilled at it professionally. Natural talent can lead to quick success, but without genuine interest, that success may eventually feel ③empty or exhausting. Career experts suggest ④looking for an overlap between the two. Finding this balance takes time and self-reflection, but it often leads to a more ⑤satisfying and sustainable career.

Last month, our class began practicing for the school choir contest, but rehearsals quickly turned ①tense. Minji, who had the loudest voice, kept correcting other members in the middle of songs. Several students felt ②hurt and began skipping practice, saying it felt more like criticism than teamwork. Our music teacher noticed the empty seats and asked what was happening. Minji explained that she only wanted the group to sound perfect. However, Junho said her tone made people afraid to sing at all. After an ③awkward silence, Minji admitted she had never noticed how her words affected others. So the class tried something new: each member shared one compliment before rehearsal began. Slowly, the tension ④faded and attendance returned to normal. On the day of the contest, the choir sang together with real ⑤doubt and earned second place.

Sociologist Mark Granovetter introduced an idea that seems contradictory at first glance, known as the strength of weak ties. According to this theory, people who see each other only occasionally, called weak ties, often provide more valuable information than close friends or family members, who are considered strong ties. This happens because strong ties tend to share the same social circles and, therefore, already possess similar knowledge. Weak ties, in contrast, move within different networks, which allows them to introduce ideas or opportunities that would otherwise remain unknown. For example, a former classmate rarely contacted might mention a job opening unavailable through one's immediate circle. Social media platforms have made maintaining such connections remarkably easier, letting users keep hundreds of loose acquaintances active without frequent face-to-face meetings. Consequently, these platforms _______________.

Setting a goal is only the first step; keeping track of progress is just as important. Many people write down goals at the beginning of the year but never check how far they have come. Without regular records, ___________. Keeping a simple log, such as a weekly checklist or a short journal entry, lets a person see clear evidence of improvement over time.

As the metaverse develops, entirely new categories of professional work are emerging alongside it. (A) Virtual event planners, for instance, now organize concerts and conferences that take place entirely within digital platforms. (B) Some skepticism remains, since the technology has not yet attracted the enormous user base that early predictions promised. (C) Despite this uncertainty, major companies continue to invest heavily, betting that virtual spaces will eventually rival physical venues in importance.

Climate change is often described as a challenge that affects the entire planet equally, yet a closer look reveals a more complicated picture. (A) Wealthy, industrialized nations have historically released the largest share of greenhouse gases while building their economies, yet developing nations, which contributed comparatively little, frequently suffer the most severe droughts and floods. This gap between responsibility and suffering raises a serious ethical question that science alone cannot answer. (B) However, the concept of climate justice reminds us that the causes and consequences of climate change are distributed unevenly across the globe. (C) For example, a farming community in a low-income country may lose its entire harvest to an unusual flood, even though its members have never owned a car or flown on a plane. Therefore, tackling climate change requires more than new technology; it demands fair policies supporting the very communities least responsible for causing the crisis.

For our club's spring project, we were told to create a sculpture using only materials collected from the school's recycling bins, and my first reaction was disappointment at not being allowed to buy proper art supplies. (A) Sorting through flattened cardboard, broken umbrella frames, and plastic bottle caps, I initially saw nothing but trash. (B) My perspective shifted once a senior member showed me a piece she had built the previous year, a bird made entirely of bent bicycle spokes and bottle caps, each cap functioning as a single feather. (C) She explained that upcycling art forces a creator to notice a material's natural shape and texture rather than simply painting over it, which often produces more original results than starting with a blank, expensive canvas.

Many people believe that a college major decides a person's entire career path. (A) A history major, for example, might later succeed as a marketer or a policy analyst. (B) However, many graduates actually end up working in fields unrelated to what they studied. (C) This shows that skills developed during study often matter more than the subject itself.

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.

Selling products directly to customers has never been easier. More and more teenagers today dream of starting their own business someday. ( ① ) Some students design and sell handmade jewelry online, while others create simple mobile apps as a hobby. ( ② ) This growing interest is partly due to the internet, which makes it easy to reach customers without a physical store. ( ③ ) Starting a small business also teaches skills that traditional classes rarely offer, such as managing money and marketing a product. ( ④ ) However, young entrepreneurs face real challenges too, and mistakes can feel discouraging at first. ( ⑤ ) Still, most teen entrepreneurs say that failure taught them more than any success did.