영파여고 2025 고1 1학기 기말 · 공통영어1

Kids tire of their toys, college students get sick of cafeteria food, and sooner or later most of us lose interest in our favorite TV shows. The bottom line is that we humans are easily ① bored. But why should this be true? The answer lies buried ② deep in our nerve cells, which are designed to reduce their initial excited response to stimuli each time ③ it occur(s). At the same time, these neurons enhance their responses to things that change - especially things that change quickly. We probably evolved ④ this way because our ancestors got more survival value, for example, from attending to what was moving in a tree (such as a puma) than to the tree itself. Boredom in reaction to an ⑤ unchanging environment turns down the level of neural excitation so that new stimuli (like our ancestor's hypothetical puma threat) stand out more. It's the neural equivalent of turning off a front door light to see the fireflies.

Have you ever brought up an idea or suggestion to someone and ① hear them immediately say "No, that won't work."? You may have thought, "He/she didn't even give it a chance." " When you are right about something, you close off the possibility of another viewpoint or opportunity. ② Being right about something, you might believe that "it is the way it is, period." " You may be correct. Your particular way of seeing it may be true with the facts. However, considering other options ③ is beneficial. If you see their side, you will see something new or, at worse, ④ learn something about how the other person looks at life. Why would you think, for example, someone else's opinions must not be positive when your opinions ⑤ do clearly not? Besides how boring that would be, it would eliminate all new opportunities, ideas, invention, and creativity.