Question

We took a rare family road trip to the Adirondacks in late August，and it was as refreshing and exhausting as family vacations tend to be．Toward the end of our long drive home, even the kids were leaning forward in their seats urging my lead foot on．At that point in a road trip，even sixty-five miles per hour feels slow. We have become numb to our speed and numb to the road signs flashing by.

My family lives on the edge of Lancaster County. Only thirty miles from home，I hit the brakes，and we began to roll，slowly，behind a horse-drawn carriage. We began to open our eyes again．We saw familiar green hills and the farm with the best watermelons. I rolled down the windows, and we breathed again．Just-cut hay and a barn full of dairy cattle．

At five miles per hour，you remember what you forget at sixty-five．You are thinking about a place，even when you are moving from place to place．

I am a placemaker. A homemaker, too. I am a mother of a young kid at home，and also a writer and a gardener．But，for me，those roles are wrapped up with the one big thing I want to do with the rest of my life：I want to cultivate a place and share it with others．

The place I make with my family is a red-brick farmhouse built in l880. It has quite a few nineteenth-century bedrooms and a few acres of land，and we love nothing more than to fill them with neighbors and friends. We grow vegetables and flowers，keep a baker’s dozen of egg—laying chickens，and，since we moved in three years ago，we have planted many，many trees．

Living with my life’s purpose does not allow for much travel. I need to be here，feeding the chickens and watering the tomatoes. Any extra in the budget，and we spend it on trees．

But I learned something at the end of our family road trip．Travel can help me in the task of caring for my own place．When I slow down and pay attention to the road between here and there，travel tells me the connections between my place and all the other places．

1. What does the author try to express in the first paragraph?

A．The tiredness of her past family life．

B．Her disappointment at the family road trip．

C．The family’s eagerness to return home．

D．Kids’excitement at driving fast on the road．

2.Why did the author slow her car some miles from her home?

A．Because she made a way for a horse-drawn carriage．

B．Because she enjoyed the scenery along the road．

C．Because she needed a break after the long drive．

D．Because she wanted to get rid of a fast-paced life．

3.The underlined word“placemaker’’in the 4th paragraph refers to someone who .

A．devotes most of his energy and time to building his house

B．is ready to help anyone in need in the community

C．makes a creative design for others’ houses

D．is good at cultivating a place and sharing it with others

4. What can be the best title of the passage?

A．On the Way Home B．Never Travel again

C．Escape from a Family Life D．Life on the Farm

Answer 1