《2026年江苏13大市中考名卷优选38套英语》

五、阅读填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
A. 请认真阅读下面短文，并根据所读内容，在文章后空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意最后两空词数不限。
A Reader's Brain Is Different
It appears that few young people read for fun these days in the UK. In a 2024 survey by the UK charity The Reading Agency, almost one in four people aged 16 - 24 in the country said they didn't read regularly. What does it mean? What kind of structure does a good reader's brain actually have?
My new study, published in the journal NeuroImage, studied open - source data from more than 1,000 people. The result shows differences in two regions of the brain's left temporal lobe（大脑左颞叶）, which sits behind the left ear.
One is the lobe's front part known as the temporal pole（颞极）. It helps connect and sort different kinds of information. For example, to understand a word like “leg”, this brain region links how legs look, feel, and move. In people who read well, the left temporal pole is thinner compared to the right.
The other is the Heschl's gyrus（赫氏回）on the lobe's upper part. The fold hosts the auditory cortex（听觉皮层）that processes sounds. That the auditory cortex would be related to reading might seem less obvious（明显的）: isn't reading mainly a visual skill? Not only. To match letters with speech sounds, we first need to be aware of the sounds of the spoken language. This phonological awareness has been known to set the stage for children's reading development.
A thinner left Heschl's gyrus has often previously been related to dyslexia（阅读障碍）, a condition that makes reading very difficult. However, my research shows that this difference in thickness isn't just about dyslexia. It applies to more people, where having a thicker auditory cortex is related to being better at reading skills. But it's important to know that the brain changes when we learn something new or practise a skill we have already mastered. For example, young adults who studied languages a lot saw an increase in the thickness of brain areas related to language. Similarly, reading is likely to shape the structure of the left Heschl's gyrus. So, if you want to keep your Heschl's gyrus healthy, pick up a good book and start reading.



56. Background 57. habit
58. based 59. brain
60. differences 61. readers
62. obviously 63. better
64. The readers of the passage.
65. To explain how reading affects the brain structure and encourage people to read more.

答案： 56.Background 文章开头提供了关于英国年轻人阅读习惯的“背景”信息。
57.habit 根据第一段第二句可知，调查显示，四分之一的年轻人没有定期阅读的“习惯”。
58.based 根据第二段第一句可知，研究“基于”1 000 多人的开源数据。
59.brain 根据第二段第二句可知，研究探讨了阅读对“大脑”结构的影响。
60.differences 根据第二段第二句可知，研究发现大脑左颞叶的两个区域存在“差异”。
61.readers 根据第三段末句可知，阅读能力强的“读者”左颞极更薄。
62.obviously 根据第五段第三句到段末可知，虽然不“明显”，但听觉皮层对儿童阅读发展有帮助。
63.better 根据第五段第三句可知，听觉皮层较厚的人在阅读方面表现“更好”。
64.The readers of the passage. 根据文章最后一句可知，段落中的 you 指的是本篇文章的读者。（答案言之有理即可）
65.To explain how reading affects the brain structure and encourage people to read more. 通读全文可知，文章的目的是解释阅读如何影响大脑结构，并鼓励人们多阅读。（答案言之有理即可）