Read the following passage and choose the item (a, b, c, or d) that best answers each of the questions about it. On the fourth, Thursday in November, in houses around the United States, families get together for a feast, or a large meal. Almost all families eat turkey and cranberry sauce for this meal, and have pumpkin pie for dessert. This feast is part of a very special day, the holiday of Thanksgiving. In 1620, the Pilgrims made a difficult trip across the ocean from England. They landed in what is now Massachusetts. In England, the Pilgrims had not been allowed to freely practice their religion. So, they went to the New World in search of religious freedom. The Pilgrims’ first winter was very hard. Almost half the group died of cold, hunger, and disease. But the Native Americans of Massachusetts taught the Pilgrims to plant corn, to hunt, and to fish. When the next fall came, the Pilgrims had plenty of food. They were thankful and had a feast to give thanks. They invited the Native Americans to join them. This was the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving became a national holiday many years later because of a woman named Sarah Hale. For forty years Sarah Hale wrote to each president and asked for a holiday of Thanksgiving. At last she was successful. In 1863 President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday. How much is Thanksgiving today like the Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving? In many ways they are different. For example, historians think that the Pilgrims ate deer, not turkey. The idea of Thanksgiving, though, is very much the same: Thanksgiving is a day on which we celebrate and give thanks. >Question 46: According to the passage, why did the Pilgrims left their homeland?
