영어 모의고사 (자동 편성)

문제 1

VO2 max, ① defined as the maximum volume of oxygen a person's body can consume and use during intense exercise, is widely regarded as one of the best single indicators of cardiorespiratory fitness. Elite endurance athletes typically post VO2 max values far higher than those of untrained individuals, ② reflecting hearts that pump larger volumes of blood and muscles that extract oxygen from that blood with remarkable efficiency. While genetics accounts for a substantial portion of an individual's potential VO2 max, consistent aerobic training can still ③ raise the measurement considerably over months of dedicated effort. Interval training, which alternates short bursts of near-maximal effort with periods of recovery, has proven particularly effective at ④ improve this measurement compared to steady, moderate-intensity exercise alone. It is worth noting, however, that a high VO2 max does not guarantee success in competition, since factors such as running economy, pacing strategy, and mental resilience also ⑤ play a decisive role in determining who actually crosses the finish line first.

문제 2

Across the world, teenagers are chronically short on sleep, often getting two or three hours less than the eight to ten hours experts recommend for their age. Part of the problem lies in biology: as puberty begins, the body's internal clock naturally shifts later, ① making it difficult for teenagers to fall asleep before eleven at night. Yet school start times rarely adjust to this shift, ② forcing students to wake before their bodies are ready. The consequences extend well beyond simple tiredness. Chronic sleep loss during adolescence has been linked to impaired concentration, weakened memory, and a higher risk of anxiety and depression. It can also disrupt the hormones ③ that regulating appetite, contributing to unhealthy weight gain over time. Some school districts have experimented with ④ delaying start times by even thirty minutes, and early results suggest that students who gain that extra rest show improved grades, better mood, and fewer tardy arrivals. Despite this evidence, changing entrenched school schedules ⑤ remains a slow and contentious process.

문제 3

A small bakery once sold a basic loaf of bread for three dollars and a premium loaf for six dollars, and most customers, uncertain about the added value of the pricier option, simply bought the ① cheaper one. The owner then introduced a third option: a slightly larger premium loaf priced at seven dollars, one that was clearly ② inferior to the six-dollar loaf in terms of value for money. Almost nobody chose the new seven-dollar loaf, yet sales of the six-dollar loaf ③ fell sharply, because it now appeared to be an obvious bargain when placed beside the inferior newcomer. This pattern, confirmed across countless pricing experiments in other markets, demonstrates that people ④ rarely judge options in isolation; instead, they evaluate choices relative to whatever alternatives happen to be nearby. Businesses have since learned to design such decoys deliberately, not expecting them to be purchased at all, but hoping they will make a specific target option look far more ⑤ attractive by comparison.

문제 4

Insomnia is ① rarely caused by a single factor; it usually emerges from an interaction between psychological stress and physiological arousal that keeps the body from settling into sleep. A common trigger is what researchers call cognitive hyperarousal, in which the mind continues to race 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 ② chronically activated, releasing hormones such as cortisol that keep heart rate and body temperature ③ depressed 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 ④ weaken the body's internal signals for sleep onset. Because these psychological and physiological factors ⑤ reinforce one another, effective treatment for chronic insomnia addresses both the racing mind and the underlying pattern of physical tension, rather than relying on medication alone.

문제 5

Athletes preparing for major endurance events sometimes train for weeks at high altitude, where the air contains ① less 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 ② fewer 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 ③ improved endurance performance. However, the benefits of altitude training are far from guaranteed, since individual athletes respond quite ④ differently 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 ⑤ stimulate blood adaptations but perform intense workouts at lower elevation to maintain quality and intensity.

문제 6

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 ① 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 ② 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 it plays a central role in ③ ignoring memories and processing emotional experiences. A healthy night typically cycles through both stages four or five times, with non-REM dominating the early hours and REM periods ④ lengthening toward morning. Disrupting either stage, through frequent awakenings or alcohol use, can leave a person feeling ⑤ unrested even after a full night in bed.

문제 7

After an especially demanding training session, the instinct to collapse onto a couch and remain motionless is understandable, yet exercise physiologists increasingly recommend the opposite approach. (A) This gentle activity keeps blood circulating through tired muscles, which appears to help clear metabolic byproducts more efficiently than complete stillness does. (B) Some athletes worry that any movement at all will interfere with the repair process, but research suggests that truly light activity does not meaningfully slow healing. (C) Active recovery involves performing low-intensity movement, such as a light jog, an easy swim, or a gentle bike ride, on days following intense exertion rather than resting completely.

문제 8

In the days leading up to an endurance event, many athletes deliberately increase their carbohydrate intake while reducing training volume, a practice known as carbohydrate loading. (A) Because glycogen serves as the primary fuel source during prolonged, intense exercise, entering an event with fuller stores can delay the point of exhaustion that runners often call hitting the wall. (B) Sports nutritionists caution, however, that the timing and composition of meals matter as much as the total quantity of carbohydrate consumed. (C) The strategy is designed to maximize the amount of glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate, packed into muscle tissue before competition begins.

문제 9

Melatonin is a hormone produced by a small gland deep within the brain, and its release follows a remarkably predictable daily pattern. (A) This rhythm is controlled primarily by light: specialized cells in the eye detect brightness and send signals that either permit or suppress melatonin production, which is why exposure to bright screens late at night can delay its release and make falling asleep more difficult. (B) Levels stay low throughout the bright hours of the day, begin rising in the evening as darkness falls, peak in the middle of the night, and then decline again as morning approaches. (C) Unlike some hormones that directly cause the body to perform a task, melatonin does not force sleep to occur; instead, it signals to the rest of the body that night has arrived, preparing various systems to shift into a lower-energy state. Because of this signaling role, taking melatonin supplements at the wrong time can shift a person's internal clock in the opposite direction from what was intended.

문제 10

The same technology, researchers realized, could be pushed even further, from generic drug screening toward medicine tailored to a single individual. A liver no longer has to sit inside a human body to be studied closely. ( ① ) By coaxing stem cells to organize themselves within a nutrient-rich gel, scientists can now grow miniature three-dimensional structures called organoids, which reproduce much of the architecture and function of a real organ despite being no larger than a grain of rice. ( ② ) Unlike flat cultures grown on a plastic dish, which lose many of the cues that guide normal development, organoids let cells interact in three dimensions much as they would inside the body. ( ③ ) This yields tissue that behaves in strikingly realistic ways. ( ④ ) This fidelity has made organoids invaluable for testing how a drug affects human tissue before any patient is exposed, sparing researchers much of the burden of relying on animal models alone. ( ⑤ ) Some laboratories have even grown organoids from a single patient's own cells, raising the possibility of trialing a treatment on a miniature copy of that patient's organ before committing to an actual course of therapy.