英语翻译the old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced

英语翻译
the old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced by a new $500home.这里的was to be 是啥意思啊,固定搭配还是被动,it would never again be possible for them to lead normal lives.这里的` be possible for 啥意思,特别是BE,是词组么,reporters kept pressing for interviews so lawyers had to be employed to act as spokesmen for the family at press conferances,这里的kept 怎么理解,be employed 啥意思,