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The Fixers — Feature Article Reading Comprehension — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 11 reading comprehension comprehension exercise.

Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 11 · English · Reading Comprehension

The Fixers — Feature Article Reading Comprehension — Answers

Part A: Literal comprehension

Answer using information stated in the article.

1.What is the one condition for having an item repaired at the café?[1 mark]

Answer: The owner must stay and watch, and ideally help.

2.Give two reasons, from the article, why many items are thrown away rather than repaired.[2 marks]

Answer: They are often cheaper to replace than to fix once a technician's time is included; and some are designed to be hard to repair (glued together, with parts that cannot be bought separately).

3.What are the two arguments supporters make for repair cafés?[2 marks]

Answer: An environmental argument (less landfill and fewer new products manufactured, shipped and packaged), and "repair confidence" (people learn that objects are not magic, stop being afraid of them and buy more thoughtfully).

4.What do right-to-repair rules require?
  1. Athat repair cafés receive government funding
  2. Bthat manufacturers make spare parts, tools and repair manuals available
  3. Cthat broken items are recycled
  4. Dthat all appliances last at least ten years

Answer: that manufacturers make spare parts, tools and repair manuals available

Paragraph nine defines right-to-repair rules this way.

Part B: Inference

Use evidence from the article to support each answer.

5.The teenager "arrived looking faintly embarrassed" but ends the day helping at the electrical table. What does this change suggest about the café?[2 marks]

Answer: It suggests the café changes people, not just objects: it builds interest, confidence and connection between generations, turning a reluctant visitor into a participant.

6.What is the writer's overall attitude towards repair cafés?
  1. Ahostile and dismissive
  2. Bwarm and admiring, while acknowledging their limits
  3. Cneutral and purely factual
  4. Dsarcastic

Answer: warm and admiring, while acknowledging their limits

The vivid, affectionate details and the circular, hopeful ending show admiration, but the writer also includes the critics' view and Imbert's admission.

7.Why does the writer include the critics' view and Imbert's response?[2 marks]

Answer: To make the article balanced and credible. Including the counter-argument shows the writer is not simply promoting the movement, and Imbert's honest concession ("We're not going to fix the world one toaster at a time") makes her, and the café's wider value, more believable.

8.Explain the significance of Hugh's final comment: "somebody has to know how to do this."[2 marks]

Answer: It suggests that repair skills are in danger of being lost as older volunteers age, and that passing them on to young people is one of the café's most important roles. It ends the article with a sense of both urgency and hope.

Part C: Vocabulary in context

9.The idea is disarmingly simple. In this context, disarmingly means:
  1. Adangerously
  2. Bin a way that removes doubt or suspicion because it is so straightforward
  3. Cin a complicated way
  4. Din a way that is hard to believe

Answer: in a way that removes doubt or suspicion because it is so straightforward

To disarm is to take away someone's guard or suspicion; the simplicity wins people over.

10.Explain what the writer means by discarded in paragraph five.[1 mark]

Answer: Thrown away or got rid of because it is no longer wanted.

11.What is repair confidence, according to Imbert? Explain in your own words.[2 marks]

Answer: The self-belief people gain when they learn that objects are understandable and fixable, which makes them less dependent and more thoughtful about what they buy.

12.Advocates in paragraph nine are:
  1. Apeople who oppose a cause
  2. Bpeople who publicly support a cause
  3. Clawyers in a court case
  4. Dmanufacturers

Answer: people who publicly support a cause

An advocate speaks up for an idea or policy.

Part D: Structure and language

13.The article opens with a list of broken objects. Explain two effects of this opening.[2 marks]

Answer: It sets the scene vividly and draws the reader in with specific, relatable detail; the similes and fragments ("A lamp that flickers like a nervous eyelid") add lightness and energy, and the list suggests the large number of things people throw away.

14.How does the ending link back to the opening, and why is this effective?[2 marks]

Answer: The objects from the opening reappear repaired (the coat, the toaster), creating a circular structure. It gives a satisfying sense of completion and shows the café's success in concrete terms.

15.Identify two conventions of a feature article used in this text.[2 marks]

Answer: Any two: a scene-setting or anecdotal opening; direct quotations from people involved; background information and context; a counter-view; a human-interest focus; a circular or reflective ending; a headline.

Part E: Extended response

16.How does the writer use people and small details to persuade readers that repair cafés matter? Write a sustained analytical response (250–350 words) with at least four embedded quotations.[10 marks]

Model answer: Rather than arguing in the abstract, the writer persuades readers that repair cafés matter by grounding the issue in people and in small, concrete details. The opening list of objects, from a lamp that "flickers like a nervous eyelid" to a coat with its lining "torn from collar to hem", turns a large environmental problem into something familiar and domestic, inviting readers to see their own broken belongings. The people quoted then give the movement a human face. Rosa Imbert's description of visitors who are handed "a screwdriver" reveals the café's real purpose, which is not to provide a service but to teach, and her idea of "repair confidence" frames repair as a kind of independence. Hugh's practical voice ("Five minutes with a soldering iron and it'll outlive both of us") adds warmth and authority, as his forty years of experience lend credibility to the argument. The writer also uses the teenager's transformation, from "faintly embarrassed" to leaning in with her "nose almost touch[ing] the casing", as a miniature story of the café's impact. Importantly, the writer does not ignore critics, and Imbert's concession that "We're not going to fix the world one toaster at a time" makes the article's hopeful conclusion feel earned rather than naive. Finally, the circular ending, in which the coat now has "a cheerful, mismatched yellow" lining and the toaster "toasts on both sides", shows success in tangible terms, while Hugh's closing line looks to the future. Through people and precise detail, the writer persuades readers that repair is not only practical but meaningful.

Success criteria:

  • Clear thesis answering the question
  • Discusses both people (quotations, characters) and small details
  • At least four short, accurately embedded quotations
  • Explains the effect of choices on the reader, not just what happens
  • Considers structure (opening, counter-view, ending)
  • Fluent, formal analytical expression
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