阅读理解：阅读短文，然后根据内容回答下列问题。

　　Why are you doing it? Why did you do it? Everyone asks the same question and I give a different answer every time：adventure(冒险), travel, time for thought, solitude(独处), challenge(挑战), curiosity(好奇), historical research, freedom, fun…all are true and good enough reasons．But why go round the world? And why on a bicycle?

　　For many years I was the headmistress of a private school for girls in the south of England．In January 1983, when I was fifty years old, I was on holiday with two friends in India．One day I looked out of the bus window and saw a cyclist, a solitary European man, riding across the Great Thar Desert．And I was filled with envy．I wanted to be out there myself on that road on a bicycle, alone and free, feeling the reality of India, not looking at it through a pane of glass．I was not athletic．I was not young．I wasn't a keen cyclist and I didn't even have a bike．I had no idea how to mend a puncture．I hated camping, picnics and discomfort．In fact, my qualifications for a long cycle ride were very poor．But it was the bicycle which had immediate appeal．

1．What does“it”in the first line mean?

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2．What was the writer then?

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3．Why did she begin to travel by bike?

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4．When did she begin to like a bike ride?

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5．The writer knew the European man, didn't she?

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