교육부가 ‘콕’ 집은 영어 킬러문항을 공개합니다

전 국민 관심사가 된 ‘킬러 문항’. 교육부가 26일 사교육 종합대책을 발표하며 최근 3년간 대학수학능력시험(수능)과 올해 6월 모의평가에서 출제된 킬러문항(초고난도 문항)을 공개했습니다. 총 4개 과목(수학, 국어, 영어, 과학) 킬러문항이 공개됐는데 총 26개 문항입니다. 수학 과목이 9개로 가장 많았고, 국어와 영어, 과학 과목이 7개, 6개, 4개로 뒤를 이었습니다.

이중 외국인들도 지문의 난해함에 혀를 내두른다는 영어 과목 킬러문항 전문을 공개합니다. 교육부가 킬러문항으로 선정한 이유도 함께 소개합니다. 

지난 20일 서울의 한 고등학교 3학년 교실에서 학생들이 공부를 하고 있다. 연합뉴스

 
◆2024학년도 6월 모의평가 33번

○지문
33. 다음 빈칸에 들어갈 말로 가장 적절한 것을 고르시오.
Whatever their differences, scientists and artists begin with the same question: can you and I see the same thing the same way? If so, how? The scientific thinker looks for features of the thing that can be stripped of subjectivity―ideally, those aspects that can be quantified and whose values will thus never change from one observer to the next. In this way, he arrives at a reality independent of all observers. The artist, on the other hand, relies on the strength of her artistry to effect a marriage between her own subjectivity and that of her readers. To a scientific thinker, this must sound like magical thinking: you’re saying you will imagine something so hard it’ll pop into someone else’s head exactly the way you envision it? The artist has sought the opposite of the scientist’s observer-independent reality. She creates a reality dependent upon observers, indeed a reality in which 〔           〕 in order for it to exist at all. [3점]
 
○문제
① human beings must participate
② objectivity should be maintained
③ science and art need to harmonize
④ readers remain distanced from the arts
⑤ she is disengaged from her own subjectivity
 
○정답
①번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “글의 내용이 다소 추상적이며, 문항을 풀기 위해서는 ‘과학자와 예술가의 현실을 추구하는 방법 차이’에 대한 이해를 바탕으로, 예술가의 현실 추구 방법을 추론해야 함. 빈칸이 학생들이 어려워하는 관계절 구문 뒤에 있고, 빈칸을 포함한 문장 구성도 다소 복잡하여 체감 난도가 높은 문항임.”

 
◆2024학년도 6월 모의평가 34번

○지문
34. 다음 빈칸에 들어갈 말로 가장 적절한 것을 고르시오.
One of the common themes of the Western philosophical tradition is the distinction between sensual perceptions and rational knowledge. Since Plato, the supremacy of rational reason is based on the assertion that it is able to extract true knowledge from experience. As the discussion in the Republic helps to explain, perceptions are inherently unreliable and misleading because the senses are subject to errors and illusions. Only the rational discourse has the tools to overcome illusions and to point towards true knowledge. For instance, perception suggests that a figure in the distance is smaller than it really is. Yet, the application of logical reasoning will reveal that the figure only appears small because it obeys the laws of geometrical perspective. Nevertheless, even after the perspectival correction is applied and reason concludes that perception is misleading, the figure still appears small, and the truth of the matter is revealed 〔           〕. [3점]
*discourse: 담화 **geometrical: 기하학의
 
○문제
① as the outcome of blindly following sensual experience
② by moving away from the idea of perfect representation
③ beyond the limit of where rational knowledge can approach
④ through a variety of experiences rather than logical reasoning
⑤ not in the perception of the figure but in its rational representation
 
○정답
⑤번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “‘감각적 인식과 이성적 지식의 차이’라는 생소한 서양 철학의 추상적 개념과 내용을 이해하여야 빈칸 추론이 가능함. 빈칸을 포함한 문장이 공교육에서 다루는 일반적인 수준보다 어려운 문장구조로 구성되어 있어 체감 난도가 높은 문항임.”

 
◆2023학년도 수능 34번

○지문
34. 다음 빈칸에 들어갈 말로 가장 적절한 것을 고르시오.
We understand that the segregation of our consciousness into present, past, and future is both a fiction and an oddly self-referential framework; your present was part of your mother’s future, and your children’s past will be in part your present. Nothing is generally wrong with structuring our consciousness of time in this conventional manner, and it often works well enough. In the case of climate change, however, the sharp division of time into past, present, and future has been desperately misleading and has, most importantly, hidden from view the extent of the responsibility of those of us alive now. The narrowing of our consciousness of time smooths the way to divorcing ourselves from responsibility for developments in the past and the future with which our lives are in fact deeply intertwined. In the climate case, it is not that 〔           〕. It is that the realities are obscured from view by the partitioning of time, and so questions of responsibility toward the past and future do not arise naturally.[3점]
*segregation: 분리**intertwine: 뒤얽히게 하다 ***obscure: 흐릿하게 하다
 
○문제
①all our efforts prove to be effective and are thus encouraged
②sufficient scientific evidence has been provided to us
③future concerns are more urgent than present needs
④our ancestors maintained a different frame of time
⑤we face the facts but then deny our responsibility
 
○정답
⑤번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “‘시간 흐름에 대한 이해’라는 추상적인 개념과 ‘기후 변화’라는 일반적 소재를 동시에 활용하여 학생들이 구문을 해석하더라도 내용을 이해하기 어려울 수 있음. 지문이 전반적으로 공교육에서 다루는 일반적인 수준보다 어려운 어휘 및 복잡한 문장구조가 사용된 긴 문장으로 구성됨.

 
◆2023학년도 수능 37번

○지문
37. 주어진 글 다음에 이어질 글의 순서로 가장 적절한 것을 고르시오.
<주어진 글>
The most commonly known form of results-based pricing is a practice called contingency pricing, used by lawyers.
 
(A)Therefore, only an outcome in the client’s favor is compensated. From the client’s point of view, the pricing makes sense in part because most clients in these cases are unfamiliar with and possibly intimidated by law firms. Their biggest fears are high fees for a case that may take years to settle.
(B)By using contingency pricing, clients are ensured that they pay no fees until they receive a settlement. In these and other instances of contingency pricing, the economic value of the service is hard to determine before the service, and providers develop a price that allows them to share the risks and rewards of delivering value to the buyer.
(C)Contingency pricing is the major way that personal injury and certain consumer cases are billed. In this approach, lawyers do not receive fees or payment until the case is settled, when they are paid a percentage of the money that the client receives.[3점]
*intimidate: 위협하다
 
○문제
①A-C-B
②B-A-C
③B-C-A
④C-A-B
⑤C-B-A
 
○정답
④번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “‘변호사 수임료 체계’라는 생소한 소재가 사용돼 공교육에서 학습하는 일반적인 의미가 아닌 법률 분야에 적합한 의미로 어휘를 파악해야 글 전체의 내용을 이해할 수 있음. 문항을 풀기 위해 글의 논리적 흐름을 파악할 수 있는 단서들이 부족함.”

 
◆2022학년도 수능 21번

○지문
21. 마지막 문장의 ‘whether to make ready for the morning commute or not’이 다음 글에서 의미하는 바로 가장 적절한 것은?[3점]
Scientists have no special purchase on moral or ethical decisions; a climate scientist is no more qualified to comment on health care reform than a physicist is to judge the causes of bee colony collapse. The very features that create expertise in a specialized domain lead to ignorance in many others. In some cases lay people―farmers, fishermen, patients, native peoples―may have relevant experiences that scientists can learn from. Indeed, in recent years, scientists have begun to recognize this: the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment includes observations gathered from local native groups. So our trust needs to be limited, and focused. It needs to be very particular. Blind trust will get us into at least as much trouble as no trust at all. But without some degree of trust in our designated experts―the men and women who have devoted their lives to sorting out tough questions about the natural world we live in―we are paralyzed, in effect not knowing whether to make ready for the morning commute or not.
*lay: 전문가가 아닌**paralyze: 마비시키다***commute: 통근
 
○문제
①questionable facts that have been popularized by non-experts
②readily applicable information offered by specialized experts
③common knowledge that hardly influences crucial decisions
④practical information produced by both specialists and lay people
⑤biased knowledge that is widespread in the local community
 
○정답
②번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “‘과학자에 대한 맹목적 신뢰는 지양하되 어느 정도의 신뢰는 필요하다’는 추상적이고 학생들이 이해하기에 다소 난해한 내용이며, 공교육에서 다루는 일반적인 수준보다 복잡한 문장구조로 되어 있음. 정답 도출을 위해 의미 파악이 가장 중요한 밑줄 친 부분을 포함한 문장이 길고, 이중부정문(without, not knowing)이 포함된 복잡한 문장구조를 사용함.

 
◆2022학년도 수능 38번 

○지문
<주어진 문장>
Retraining current employees for new positions within the company will also greatly reduce their fear of being laid off.
 
<지문>
Introduction of robots into factories, while employment of human workers is being reduced, creates worry and fear. (①) It is the responsibility of management to prevent or, at least, to ease these fears. (②) For example, robots could be introduced only in new plants rather than replacing humans in existing assembly lines. (③) Workers should be included in the planning for new factories or the introduction of robots into existing plants, so they can participate in the process. (④) It may be that robots are needed to reduce manufacturing costs so that the company remains competitive, but planning for such cost reductions should be done jointly by labor and management. (⑤) Since robots are particularly good at highly repetitive simple motions, the replaced human workers should be moved to positions where judgment and decisions beyond the abilities of robots are required.
 
○문제
38. 글의 흐름으로 보아, 주어진 문장이 들어가기에 가장 적절한 곳을 고르시오.
 
○정답
⑤번
 
○킬러문항 선정 이유
교육부 “문장 내 단서로 문제를 풀 수는 있으나, 문장 간의 연결이 논리적으로 치밀하지 않고 단절이 다소 있어 글의 논리적 관계 및 흐름을 파악하여 정답을 찾는 데 영향을 줌. 의미 및 논리적 흐름을 파악하는 것보다 단어 등 단서를 활용한 풀이법 등 ‘기술’을 활용할 경우, 더 쉽게 풀릴 수 있는 문항으로 보임.”

이희진 기자 heejin@segye.com