Got some questions

[PredatorTheSkullCollector]

Hi dear fellow forumers,
I've found out a couple of sentences which I can't understand and I need some help.
For example:
"They'd said Laura had turned the car sharply and deliberately,and had plunged off the bridge with no more fuss than stepping off a curb."

"What had she been thinking of as the car sailed off the bridge,then hung suspended in the afternoon sunlight,glinting like a dragonfly for that one instant of held breath before the plummet?"(these two examples are taken from "The Blind Assassin" (cannot understand the enlarged parts of the sentences)

"We were so broke,we lived on national assistance for ages."(this one is taken from a newspaper article called "A life in the day")
I just can't make myself understand why in this sentence the author of the article has used the past simple of break instead of the past participle-broken(passive voice)?I thought the author means that the members(from the article) were desperate or something like that..so according to the grammar rules this expression might be wrong?!

and the last one...
When do we use "to+gerund"?
"I'm looking forward to welcoming you at...." etc.

I'll be grateful if you explain to me in detail.
Kind Regards,
PredatorTheSkullCollector[/b]

[Mordant]

"No more fuss than stepping off a curb" = She took it lightly and showed no signs of worries or reservations.

"One instant of held breath before the plummet" = I would take this to be the writer's speculation about what the drive did at the beginning of the fall. We can hold our breath when we brace for danger.

"Broke" is the informal adjective for being deficient of financial resources. "Broken" as an adjective usually means hopelessly low in spirits and ambitions.

After the death of his child, he was a broken man.
After losing his job, he was broke.

[Mordant]

"To + gerund" is a prepositional phrase. The gerund acts as a prepositional object, a noun. This should not be confused with the infinitive, in which "to" is a mere particle. Infinitives also act as nouns but cannot appear behind prepositions.

He preferred running to walking.
She turned to writing to express her frustrations.
She was disposed to crying.

He has a choice between lying and telling the truth, the latter of which will shatter his reputation. The preposition "between" is functioning the same way as the preposition "to" in the previous three sentences.

[PredatorTheSkullCollector]

I'd like to thank Mordant for helping me!