The Old School That Became a Home: Reading for Reference and Inference
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In the mountains of Niigata, a small town had an old elementary school that closed in 2008. The building was cold in winter and had no elevator. In 2015, a group of young people who moved from Tokyo started using it as a shared house. They repaired the rooms themselves. At first, only four people lived there. Then the town asked them to open a small café on the first floor. Now about twenty people live or work in the building, including three families with children and five people over seventy. The café is open three days a week and serves vegetables grown in the town. The youngest resident, a six-year-old girl, calls the oldest resident, an eighty-two-year-old man, 'Grandpa.' He teaches her how to grow tomatoes. The project is not a business. The town gives some money, but the residents also pay rent. A writer from Tokyo visited and asked, 'Why did this work here?' A resident said, 'Because we did not try to make everything new. We used what was already here.'
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
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The main idea is that a closed school was reused by newcomers and became a mixed community, and that the project worked because it used what already existed instead of trying to make everything new. The passage is not mainly about making money: it says the project is not a business, the town gives some money, and residents pay rent. It is also not mainly about young people from Tokyo 'saving' the town; the café, the local vegetables, and the relationship between the girl and the older man show a two-way community.
2. In 'a group of young people ... started using it as a shared house,' what does 'it' refer to? Explain how the previous sentence helps.
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'It' refers to the old elementary school building that closed in 2008. The previous sentence names 'an old elementary school,' and the next sentence describes repairs to 'the rooms,' which fits a building. If 'it' referred to the town, 'using the town as a shared house' would be impossible. The reference is found by matching the noun that can logically be used as a building.
3. The writer asks, 'Why did this work here?' Based on the resident's answer and other details, what is one inference about the town's approach? Support it with evidence.
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One inference is that the town's approach was adaptive rather than top-down. Evidence: the residents repaired rooms themselves; the town asked them to open a café rather than building a new café; the café serves vegetables grown in the town; and the resident says, 'We did not try to make everything new. We used what was already here.' This suggests the project worked because it combined an existing building and local food with new residents, not because it was fully funded or planned as a business. Another acceptable inference is that the project depended on small, daily relationships, such as the girl calling the man 'Grandpa.'