Name:

Read the passage and choose the correct answers from options A, B, C or D.

How reading from a young age is ‘superfood’ for the brain

Experts say ‘leisure reading’ is linked to crucial developmental factors in children, improving their
cognition, mental health, and brain structure. Fewer and fewer young people read for pleasure. Yet
this activity is extremely beneficial to them in cognitive, intellectual, and behavioural terms,
especially if they get (1) reading at an early age, a new study reveals.

Researchers in the United Kingdom and China (2) investigated the multiple benefits of
“leisure reading” by analysing data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development cohort,
recruited as part of a study of over 10,000 young adolescents in North America. The scientists (3)
to determine whether reading for pleasure in early childhood contributes to the cerebral and cognitive
development of young people.

Indeed, specialists and teachers often insist on the need for kids to immerse themselves in reading
from (4) early age. That’s why they encourage parents to read stories with their children to give
them a lasting love of books.

Previously, though, scientists were unsure whether this activity involves cognitive and brain
mechanisms that (5) benefit youngsters as they grow older.

To test this hypothesis, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Warwick and Fudan (6)
a wide range of data. This included clinical interviews, cognitive tests, mental and behavioural
assessments, and brain scans – involving teenagers who begins reading for pleasure at an early age
(between two and nine), and others who took up reading later, (7) not at all.

Nearly half of the participants (48%) in the study, published in the journal “Psychology Medicine”,
had read (8) for pleasure, or had only started to do so later in their childhood. The other half
spent between three and 10 years reading for pleasure.

12 hours a week 
Brain scans of the adolescents enabled the scientists to observe that those (9) had begun
reading for pleasure at an early age had moderately larger total brain areas and volumes than their
peers who got into leisure reading later. This phenomenon was particularly noticeable in brain regions
that (10) an essential role in cognitive functions, and those linked (11) improve
mental health, behaviour, and attention.

What’s more, the researchers found that teenagers who had started reading for pleasure in childhood
(12) better than others, (13) only at school but also on cognitive tests measure verbal
learning, memory, and speech development. In addition, they show fewer signs of stress and
depression than their peers who had discovered the joys of reading (14) in childhood and had
fewer behavioural problems.

For study co-author Barbara Sahakian, (15) findings show that reading is not a trivial
pastime. “It isn’t just a pleasurable experience – it’s widely accepted that reading inspires thinking
and creativity, increases empathy, and reduces stress,” she said.

Adapted from: https://www.malaymail.com/news/life/2023/06/29/how-reading-is-a-superfood-for-

young-brains/77073
 1. A. in 11. A. for
B. on B. to
C. into C. likewise
D. under D. also
2. A. have 12. A. performing
B. has B. performed
C. had C. performs
D. having D. performance
3. A. want 13. A. just
B. wants B. now
C. wanting C. so
D. wanted D. not
4. A. – 14. A. later
B. a B. before
C. an C. rarely
D. the D. early
5. A. would 15. A. these
B. should B. this
C. could C. that
D. might D. those
6. A. studied
B. studies
C. studying
D. study
7. A. or
B. and
C. but
D. until
8. A. much
B. many
C. little
D. few
9. A. who’s
B. who
C. whom
D. whose
10. A. plays
B. playing
C. played
D. play