English Base

Test 014

Reading Practice: The Repair Café

Reading Text

On the first Saturday of every month, a queue forms at a long table in the corner of the town hall. A cardboard sign above the table says "Broken? Bring it in." People are holding kettles, radios, lamps and toys, and all of them have come to the monthly Repair Café, where volunteers try to fix things for free. The hall smells of coffee and hot solder, and by ten o'clock every chair has been taken.

Marta, a retired electrician, has been volunteering here since the café opened three years ago. This Saturday she was working on a toaster that had stopped heating. While she was testing the wires with a small meter, she showed a young man beside her how to hold the soldering iron. "If you heat the metal first, the solder will flow," she said. "If you tried it cold, you would only make a mess."

Not every visitor comes because of a broken object. Some people arrive to learn a skill that nobody taught them at home, and others come because they enjoy the company. A student named Ilia, who had brought a lamp with a loose connection, admitted that he had never opened an appliance before. The lamp took twenty minutes to repair, but he stayed for two hours, watching and asking questions.

By five o'clock, the volunteers had repaired thirty-one objects out of the forty that people had carried in. Nine had been declared beyond help, though even their owners left with advice about what to buy next. Marta says the numbers matter less than the habit the café creates: people begin to ask whether a thing can be mended before they throw it away.

Comprehension Test

Question 1. Why are people standing in a queue at the town hall?

✗ IncorrectCoffee is mentioned only as a smell in the hall, not as something the queue is waiting for.

✓ CorrectThe sign says "Broken? Bring it in." and people hold "kettles, radios, lamps and toys" for the volunteers to fix.

✗ IncorrectNothing is sold at the café: the volunteers "try to fix things for free".

✗ IncorrectThe hall is already full of people and tables, and no concert is mentioned anywhere in the text.

Question 2. How often does the Repair Café take place?

✗ IncorrectThe café is monthly, so it happens once a month rather than every weekend.

✗ IncorrectThe event is described as a "monthly Repair Café", which means twelve times a year, not once.

✗ IncorrectThe text names Saturday morning, since by ten o'clock every chair is taken.

✓ CorrectThe text opens with "On the first Saturday of every month, a queue forms at a long table".

Question 3. What does the detail about the smell and the chairs tell us about the café?

✓ Correct"By ten o'clock every chair has been taken" shows a full, working hall very early in the day.

✗ IncorrectMany people are waiting, but nothing suggests a shortage; Marta and other volunteers are working at the tables.

✗ IncorrectCoffee appears only as a smell in the air; the text never says the café sells it.

✗ IncorrectThe hall is already crowded by ten o'clock, so the café clearly opens in the morning.

Question 4. Which statement about Marta is true?

✗ IncorrectShe works at one of the tables as a volunteer; nothing is said about managing the building.

✗ IncorrectThe student in the text is Ilia; Marta is the experienced person who shows others how to solder.

✓ CorrectThe text says she is "a retired electrician" and "has been volunteering here since the café opened three years ago".

✗ IncorrectShe has been there for three years, so she is not a new member of the team.

Question 5. What was Marta doing when she spoke to the young man?

✗ IncorrectThe lamp belongs to Ilia and appears later in the text; at this moment Marta is at the toaster.

✓ Correct"While she was testing the wires with a small meter, she showed a young man beside her how to hold the soldering iron."

✗ IncorrectCoffee is only a smell in the hall; Marta's hands are busy with a toaster and a meter.

✗ IncorrectShe explains by speaking and by showing the iron; no board or written instructions are mentioned.

Question 6. Why does Marta tell the young man to heat the metal first?

✗ IncorrectMarta never mentions the cost of power; her advice is about how the solder behaves on the metal.

✗ IncorrectShe speaks about the metal and the solder, not about keeping the tool safe.

✗ IncorrectNothing is said about how long the repair will last; the point is whether the solder flows at all.

✓ CorrectShe says "If you heat the metal first, the solder will flow", which explains the whole instruction.

Question 7. "If you tried it cold, you would only make a mess." What does Marta mean?

✓ CorrectShe contrasts a proper joint with "a mess", so the repair would fail and the result would look bad.

✗ IncorrectHer warning is about working with cold metal, so overheating is the opposite of her point.

✗ IncorrectShe describes the result on the metal, not damage to the tool in the young man's hand.

✗ IncorrectNo new part is discussed; the sentence is only about how the solder behaves on cold metal.

Question 8. Why do some people come to the café without a broken object?

✗ IncorrectNothing is sold there, because the volunteers repair things for free.

✗ IncorrectThe text mentions company in general, not meetings with the volunteers' relatives.

✓ Correct"Some people arrive to learn a skill that nobody taught them at home, and others come because they enjoy the company."

✗ IncorrectThe café is run by volunteers, and nobody in the text comes there looking for work.

Question 9. What had Ilia never done before?

✗ IncorrectThe text says nothing about his earlier visits to the building; it names a different experience.

✓ CorrectHe "admitted that he had never opened an appliance before", which is exactly what he learnt that day.

✗ IncorrectHe brought his own lamp, so lamps themselves are obviously familiar to him.

✗ IncorrectHe asks questions during the whole visit, so this is the opposite of the truth.

Question 10. What did Ilia do after his lamp had been repaired?

✗ IncorrectHe stayed for two hours after the repair instead of leaving at once.

✗ IncorrectOnly one object is mentioned in connection with Ilia, so no second item appears.

✗ IncorrectThe café repairs things for free, and Ilia does not leave after the work is done.

✓ Correct"The lamp took twenty minutes to repair, but he stayed for two hours, watching and asking questions."

Question 11. What does Ilia's long stay suggest about him?

✓ CorrectThe repair took only twenty minutes, yet he stayed two hours watching and asking questions.

✗ IncorrectNo friend appears in the text; his stay is explained by his watching and his questions.

✗ IncorrectThe people at the tables are volunteers, and Ilia's interest is in learning how the work is done.

✗ IncorrectHe watched and asked questions; nothing suggests he wanted to undo the finished repair.

Question 12. How many objects had the volunteers repaired by five o'clock?

✗ IncorrectThe text gives forty objects in total, not fifty, so the second number is wrong.

✗ IncorrectNine objects "had been declared beyond help", so the volunteers did not manage all forty.

✓ Correct"The volunteers had repaired thirty-one objects out of the forty that people had carried in."

✗ IncorrectNine is the number of objects that could not be saved, not the number that were repaired.

Question 13. What happened to the owners of the objects that could not be repaired?

✗ IncorrectThe text does not mention a second visit for these objects; it says what the owners took away with them.

✓ Correct"Even their owners left with advice about what to buy next."

✗ IncorrectThe volunteers give advice only; no replacement objects are handed out at the café.

✗ IncorrectThe objects are called "beyond help", and nothing is said about keeping them for parts.

Question 14. What does Marta consider more important than the numbers?

✗ IncorrectShe never compares speed with numbers; her sentence is about the habit that visitors take home.

✗ IncorrectReturning visitors are not discussed at this point, so this is not what she values.

✗ IncorrectThe volunteers already have the skills; her point concerns the change in the visitors' behaviour.

✓ Correct"The numbers matter less than the habit the café creates", namely asking whether a thing can be mended.

Question 15. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

✓ CorrectThe paragraph closes with people asking whether a thing can be mended "before they throw it away".

✗ IncorrectThirty-one of forty objects were repaired, so the paragraph shows the opposite of this idea.

✗ IncorrectThe numbers are described as less important than the habit, so record keeping is not the message.

✗ IncorrectThe time of arrival is never presented as a problem, and the last paragraph is about habits.
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