What is the essay mainly arguing?

Repair is worth doing because it keeps you the owner of your things. (The last two paragraphs move past money: a thing you cannot open is a thing you must buy twice, and repair keeps you from being a stranger in your own house.)

What was wrong with the kettle?

A wire inside was loose. (The first paragraph says the writer opened it and 'found a loose wire'.)

Why does the writer mention that he had never opened a kettle before?

To explain why he wrongly believed the inside was too hard for him. (He says the machine 'was never a mystery' and that he assumed the inside was beyond him only because he had never looked.)

A "sealed case" is one that is

closed so that it cannot easily be opened (The sentence says the case tells you the inside is none of your business, so 'sealed' means shut against opening.)

In Praise of Repair: Level 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

My kettle stopped working last winter. The shop told me a new one would cost less than a repair, so I almost threw it away. Instead I opened it with a screwdriver and found a loose wire. Ten minutes later it boiled water again.

The lesson was not that I am clever. I am not. The lesson was that the kettle was never a mystery. It was a small machine with five or six parts, and it had failed in a way I could see. Because I had never opened one, I assumed the inside was beyond me.

We are trained to be users of objects, not owners of them. A sealed case tells you politely that the inside is none of your business. But a thing you cannot open is a thing you cannot keep, and a thing you cannot keep is a thing you must buy twice.

Repair is not only cheaper. It is a way of refusing to be a stranger in your own house.

Comprehension questions