Just outside the northern Italian town of Bra, there rises a church tower with a clock that is a half hour slow. In Bra, that’s close enough to being right on time. Though not far from the industrial city of Turin, Bra smells of roses, and leisure is the law. It is both the home of an international movement that promotes "slow food" (the opposite of American fast food) and one of 31 Italian municipalities that have joined a sister cause, the "slow cities. " These cities have declared themselves paradises from the accelerating pace of life in the global economy. In Bin, 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. The city offers cut-rate mortgages to homeowners who do up their houses using a local butter-colored material and reserves choice commercial real estate for family shops selling handmade chocolates or specialty cheeses. And if the movement leaders get their way, the slow conception will gradually spread across Europe.

       The argument for a Slow Europe is not only that slow is good, but also that it can work. The Slow City movement, which started in 1999, has turned around local economies 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 thriving, many with sales rising at a rate of 15 percent per year. "This is our answer to globalization," says Paolo Satumini, the founder of Slow Cities.
     France is the favored proving ground for supporters of what might be called slow economics. Most outsiders have long been doubtful of the French model : short hours and long vacations. Yet the French are more productive on an hourly basis than counterparts in the United States and Britain, and have been for years.

   The mystery of French productivity has fueled a Europe-wide debate about the merits of working more slowly.

1. The church clock that is a half hour slow serves as a symbol of_____.
A. industrial development
B. slow movement
C. global economy
D. city growth

2. In Bra, local specialty businesses_____.
A. are not open on Thursdays and Sundays
B. are not allowed in the town square
C. enjoy low-rate loans from the bank
D. enjoy priority in business sites

3. The low unemployment in Bra is mentioned to prove that_____.
B. a good concept works well in its birthplace
C. the Slow City movement is successful in Bra
D. tourism brings great job opportunities

4. 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

5. The increased French productivity tends to_____.
A. throw doubt on slow economics
B. confirm merits of slow economics
C. favor an accelerating pace of life
D. encourage a slow economic growth

參考答案及解析：

1．B推理題。題干為“教堂的鐘慢半個(gè)小時(shí)象征著…”，從第一段前四句話推斷是從側(cè)面說明巴臘城的“慢”。故選B。

2．D細(xì)節(jié)題。第一段倒數(shù)第二句“me city…reserves choice commercial real estate for family shops selling handmade chocolates or specialty cheeses．”說明市政府對地方特色經(jīng)濟(jì)給與優(yōu)待，故選D。

3．C推理題。第二段第三、四行說意大利的年輕人都往巴臘城去，那里的失業(yè)率為5％，是全國平均水平的一半。且后面還提到巴臘城吸引了大量旅客，商店的銷售額也在大幅增長，這說明巴臘城的“慢城市”運(yùn)動在經(jīng)濟(jì)上取得了很好的效果。故選C。

4．A推理題。文章倒數(shù)第二段把法國同美國和英國作比較，法國崇尚的是工作時(shí)間短假期長的模式，由此可推斷法國人工作時(shí)間比美國人和英國人都短，故選A。

5．B主旨題。題干為“法國生產(chǎn)力提高趨向…”。文章最后一段說法國生產(chǎn)力提高這一神奇的事實(shí)在歐洲引發(fā)了關(guān)于放慢工作速度的激烈辯論，說明這一現(xiàn)象引起了更多人的關(guān)注，越來越多的人認(rèn)為“慢”這一概念是有利的。B選項(xiàng)的意思是“證明‘慢經(jīng)濟(jì)’的優(yōu)點(diǎn)”。符合題意。故選B。

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