C．takes place in a German city

　　D．is famous for its Monday Parade

　　解析：　细节理解题。根据倒数第二段的The Nice Carnival in the southern French city of Nice lasts two or three weeks from February to March every year可以判断B项正确。

　　答案：　B

　　3．Which of the following carnivals provides gifts for people joining it?

　　A．The Quebec Carnival.

　　B．The Venice Carnival.

　　C．The Rio Carnival.

　　D．The Cologne Carnival.

　　解析：　细节理解题。根据第四段的The Cologne Carnmival...lots of gifts are prepared for the people who join it可知选D项。

　　答案：　D

　　4．What would be the best title for the text?

　　A．Carnivals in Europe

　　B．The origin of carnivals

　　C．Festivals across the world

　　D．The birthplace of carnivals

　　解析：　标题归纳题。第一段是文章的主题段，开头便点明了本文的主旨(It's carnival season in Europe，a crazy time for parades，masks，music and dance)。接下来分别介绍了比利时班什狂欢节、威尼斯狂欢节、德国科隆狂欢节、法国尼斯狂欢节。故A项作标题最合适。

　　答案：　A

　　B

　　Sunjit Patel is a designer with a well­known publishing company.He lives in South London，and for the last three years he has been working from home.He prefers working from home because he can spend more time with his family and have a better work­life balance.Sunjit isn't alone：in Britain，there are 2.1 million people who work from home at present.In addition，about eight million people spend some time working in the home rather than in an office.This is almost twice as many as ten years ago.

This rapidly­growing trend (趋势) towards working from home is the same in many countries.But what are the reasons for it？The main reason is technological：easy access (接近) to broadband and the availability of phone and video­conferencing.These make it possible for people