Reading Comprehension: The Repair Shop Worksheet (B1)
A printable B1 reading comprehension worksheet built on an original 320-word text about a repair shop: finding the main idea, reading for detail, working out what is implied but not stated, vocabulary from context, and a short written response. Full answer key and teacher's notes.
About this worksheet
The step from A2 to B1 reading is the step from what does it say to what does it mean. Three of the five tasks here ask for something the text does not state in so many words, which is exactly where intermediate learners lose marks.
Prints without the site's menus or advertisements.
Reading Comprehension: The Repair Shop · Level B1 · About 45 minutes
Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________
The repair shop
1 When Nadika's kettle stopped working, she did what most people do: she looked at the price of a new one. It was 4,200 rupees. Then a neighbour told her about the repair shop at the end of the market, and she carried the kettle there instead, feeling slightly foolish.
2 The shop is not much more than a table under a roof. Behind it sits Piyal, who has been mending things for thirty-one years - radios at first, then televisions, and now, he says, "mostly kettles, fans and the machines that nobody makes parts for any more." He charged Nadika 600 rupees and told her the kettle would outlive the new one she had been about to buy.
3 She did not believe him at the time. Two years later the kettle is still boiling water every morning, and she has sent four people to the shop.
4 Piyal is careful about which jobs he takes. He turns away perhaps one machine in three, usually the newest ones. "They are built so that nobody can open them," he says. "Sometimes there is no screw at all - the case is glued. I can open it, but I cannot close it again, and then the customer blames me." He also refuses anything where the part he needs costs more than half the price of a new machine, which he says is a decision the customer should not have to make twice.
5 Younger repairers are rare. Piyal trained two, and both now work in phone shops, where the money is better and the work is faster. He does not blame them. But he points out that the market has three shops selling new kettles and one table mending them, and that thirty years ago the numbers were the other way round.
Task 1. The main idea
Choose the sentence that best describes what the whole text is about. Then say in one sentence why the other three are wrong.
- a) A woman's kettle broke and she had it repaired.
- b) Repairing things is often cheaper than replacing them, but the trade is disappearing.
- c) Modern machines are badly made.
- d) Piyal has worked as a repairer for thirty-one years.
- Why the others are wrong: ______________________________________________
Task 2. Reading for detail
Answer in a full sentence. Each answer is stated in the text.
Example: How much did the repair cost? → It cost 600 rupees.
- What did Nadika do before she heard about the repair shop? ______________________
- What kinds of machine does Piyal mend most often now? ______________________
- How many machines does he turn away? ______________________
- What happened to the two repairers he trained? ______________________
Task 3. What the text suggests
The text does not say these things directly. Decide whether each one is probably true or probably false, and write the words from the text that made you decide.
Example: Nadika was embarrassed to take an old kettle to be mended. → Probably true: "feeling slightly foolish".
- Piyal thinks some machines are designed to be impossible to repair. ______________________
- Nadika regrets having the kettle repaired. ______________________
- Piyal believes repairing pays as well as working in a phone shop. ______________________
- Repair work in the market was more common in the past. ______________________
Task 4. Vocabulary in context
Find the word or phrase in the text that means the same as each of these. The paragraph is in brackets.
Example: repairing (paragraph 2) → mending
- live longer than (paragraph 2) → ____________
- refuses to accept (paragraph 4) → ____________
- stuck together, with no screws (paragraph 4) → ____________
- not many, hard to find (paragraph 5) → ____________
Task 5. Your turn
Write 80 to 100 words. Would you repair a machine or replace it? Give two reasons, and mention one thing from the text that you agree or disagree with.
- ____________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________
For the teacher: answer key
| Task | Answers |
|---|---|
| Task 1 | b. (a) and (d) are true but are only details, not what the whole text is about; (c) is an opinion the text does not make - Piyal says new machines are hard to open, which is not the same as badly made. |
| Task 2 | 1 She looked at the price of a new kettle (4,200 rupees). 2 Kettles, fans, and machines nobody makes parts for any more. 3 About one in three. 4 They both went to work in phone shops. |
| Task 3 | 1 Probably true: "They are built so that nobody can open them ... the case is glued." 2 Probably false: the kettle still works and she has sent four people to the shop. 3 Probably false: he says the money is better in phone shops and does not blame them for going. 4 Probably true: "thirty years ago the numbers were the other way round." |
| Task 4 | outlive; turns away; glued; rare. |
| Task 5 | Answers will vary. Mark on three things: a clear position, two reasons, and one specific reference to the text. At B1, expect because, however and for example to appear; expect and accept simple sentences. |
Teacher's notes
- Timing: Tasks 1 to 4 take about 30 minutes; Task 5 about 15, or set it as homework.
- Do Task 1 before anything else, with the books closed after one minute of reading. Main idea is a skimming skill, and learners cannot practise it once they have read every word four times.
- Task 3 is the B1 task. Inference questions are where intermediate learners lose most marks, and the fix is the second half of the instruction: name the words that made you decide. A guess with no evidence is the habit to break.
- Do not pre-teach the vocabulary in Task 4. The task is working a meaning out from the words around it. Pre-teaching removes the exercise.
- Expect an argument about question 3 in Task 3. Learners often say Piyal thinks repairing pays badly and that he resents it. The text supports the first and not the second, and that distinction is worth five minutes.
- Extension: learners write two more inference questions on the text, with the evidence, and swap with a partner.
More like this
Reading Comprehension: The Night Market Worksheet (A2)
5 tasks with an answer key. Reading, A2.
First and Second Conditionals Worksheet (B1)
5 tasks with an answer key. Grammar, B1.
All ESL worksheets
Grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing, by CEFR level.
About this worksheet
Written by RCF English to the RCF English international standard: levelled by the CEFR, original throughout, and suitable for classrooms in any country. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.