考研英语二(7)

The apartments in the elegant towers Mies built on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, for example, were smaller-two-bedroom units under 1,000 square feet-than those in their older neighbors along the city’s Gold Coast. But they were popular because of their airy glass walls, the views they afforded and the elegance of the buildings’ details and proportions, the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time.

The trend toward “less” was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses-usually around 1,200 square feet-than the spreading two-story ones he had designed in the 1890s and the early 20th century.

The “Case Study Houses” commissioned from talented modern architects by California Arts & Architecture magazine between 1945 and 1962 were yet another homegrown influence on the “less is more” trend. Aesthetic effect came from the landscape, new materials and forthright detailing. In his Case Study House, Ralph everyday life - few American families acquired helicopters, though most eventually got clothes dryers - but his belief that self-sufficiency was both desirable and inevitable was widely shared.

31. The postwar American housing style largely reflected the

Americans’ .

[A]prosperity and growth

[B]efficiency and practicality

[C]restraint and confidence

[D]pride and faithfulness

32. Which of the following can be inferred from Paragraph 3 about Bauhaus?

[A]It was founded by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

[B]Its designing concept was affected by World War II.

[C]Most American architects used to be associated with it.

[D]It had a great influence upon American architecture.

33. Mies held that elegance of architectural design .

[A]was related to large space

[B]was identified with emptiness

[C]was not reliant on abundant decoration

[D]was not associated with efficiency