Just outside the northern Italian town of Bra, there rises a church tower with a clock that is a half hour slow. Though not far from the industrial city of Turin, Bra smells of roses, and leisure(悠闲) is the law. It is both the home of an international movement that promotes slow food and one of Italian cities that have joined the slow cities. In Bra, population 27,866, the town fathers have declared that all small food shops be closed every Thursday and Sunday. They forbid cars in the town square. All fruits and vegetables served in local schools must be organic(有机的). And as the movement goes well, the slow concept gradually spreads across Europe.

The argument for a Slow Europe is not only that it is good, but also that it can work. The Slow City Movement, which started in 1999, has improved local economies(经济) by promoting local goods and tourism. Young Italians are moving from larger cities to Bra, where unemployment is only 5 percent, about half the nationwide rate. Slow food and wine festivals draw thousands of tourists every year. Shops are doing well, many with sales rising at a rate of 15% per year. “This is our answer to the world.” says Paolo Samrnini, the founder of Slow Cities.

France is in favor of slow economics. Most outsiders have long been doubtful of the French model: short hours and long vacations. Yet the French are more productive than those in the United States and Britain, and have been for years.

The mystery of French productivity has risen an Europewide debate about the advantages of working more slowly.

小题1:The church clock that is a half hour slow severs as a symbol of ________.

A．industrial development

B．slow movement

C．global economy

D．city growth小题2:The low unemployment in Bra proves that ________.

A．the population is not large

B．tourism brings great job chance

C．the Slow City Movement is successful

D．the slow concept works well only in its birth place小题3:It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．British workers work longer hours than the French

B．French workers work longer hours than the Italians

C．Italian workers are less productive than the Americans

D．American workers are more productive than the British小题4:The increased French productivity tends to ________.

A．favor a fast life style

B．throw doubt on slow economics

C．encourage a slow economic growth

D．confirm advantages of slow economics

Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they’re always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much money to threw around. "It’s iniquitous," they say, "that this entirely unproductive industry (if we can call it that) should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies arc making. Why don’t they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods After all, it’s the consumer who pays."
The poor old consumer. He would have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn’t create mass markets for products. It is just because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are so cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about household goods derives large from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about. Supposing you wanted to buy a washing-machine, it is more than likely you would obtain details regarding performance, price, etc. from an advertisement.
Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. And what fun they often are, too] Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway by-laws while waiting for a train Would you like to read only closely-printed columns of news in your daily paper A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities.
We must not forget, either, that advertising makes a positive contribution to our pockets. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not subsist without this source of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programs is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full price !
Another thing we shouldn’t forget is the "little ads", which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community ! Just about anything can be accomplished through these columns. For example, you can find a job, buy or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage or death in what used to be called the "hatch, match and dispatch" columns; but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or "agony" column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human nature. It’s the best advertisement for advertising there is!

The word "drab" (Paragraph 3) might mean______

A. impressive.
B. nonconformist.
C. insightful.
D. unappealing.