Part A: Reading Comprehension

Text 3

We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G. I. Bill and lining up at the marriage bureaus.

But when it came to their houses, it was a time of common sense and a belief that less could truly be more. During the Depression and the war, Americans had learned to live with less, and that restraint, in combination with the postwar confidence in the future, made small, efficient housing positively stylish.

Economic condition was only a stimulus for the trend toward efficient living. The phrase “less is more” was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who like other people associated with the Bauhaus, a school of design, emigrated to the United States before World War II and took up posts at American architecture schools. These designers came to exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture, but none more so than Mies.

Mies’s signature phrase means that less decoration, properly organized, has more impact than a lot. Elegance, he believed, did not derive from abundance. Like other modern architects, he employed metal, glass and laminated wood—materials that we take for granted today but that in the 1940s symbolized the future. Mies’s sophisticated presentation masked the fact that the spaces he designed were small and efficient, rather than big and often empty.

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 Rapson may have mispredicted just how the mechanical revolution would impact 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 the 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. 

34. What is true about the apartments Mies built on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive?

[A]

They ignored details and proportions. 

[B]

They were built with materials popular at that time. 

[C]

They were more spacious than neighboring buildings. 

[D]

They shared some characteristics of abstract art. 

35. What can we learn about the design of the “Case Study Houses”?

[A]

Mechanical devices were widely used. 

[B]

Natural scenes were taken into consideration. 

[C]

Details were sacrificed for the overall effect. 

[D]

Eco-friendly materials were employed. 

答案与解析 (Answers)

31. [C] restraint and confidence.
解析：第二段末尾明确指出，大萧条和战争期间美国人学会了用更少的东西生活，这种“克制（restraint）”，结合战后对未来的“信心（confidence）”，使得小巧、高效的住房变得非常时髦。选项C是对原文 restraint 和 confidence 的直接复现。选项A是第一段中人们普遍的误解，并非指房屋风格的内涵。

32. [D] It had a great influence upon American architecture.
解析：第三段提到，包豪斯的设计师们（包括 Mies）在二战前移民美国并在建筑学院任教。紧接着说：“这些设计师们对美国建筑的进程产生了巨大的影响（exert enormous influence on the course of American architecture）”。由于这些设计师都与包豪斯有关，因此可以推断包豪斯对美国建筑产生了巨大影响，选D。

33. [C] was not reliant on abundant decoration.
解析：第四段第二句指出：“他认为，优雅并非源于丰富/大量（Elegance, he believed, did not derive from abundance）”。这直接对应选项C：“（优雅）不依赖于丰富的装饰（abundant decoration）”。这与他的名言“少即是多（less is more）”的理念完全一致。

34. [D] They shared some characteristics of abstract art.
解析：第五段描述了 Mies 建造的湖滨大道公寓，提到它们很受欢迎是因为玻璃墙、视野以及建筑细节和比例的优雅。段末评价这种建筑的细节和比例是“当时非常流行的抽象艺术的建筑等价物（the architectural equivalent of the abstract art so popular at the time）”。“等价物”说明它们与抽象艺术有共同的特征（shared some characteristics），故选D。

35. [B] Natural scenes were taken into consideration.
解析：最后一段提到“案例研究住宅（Case Study Houses）”时指出：“美学效果来自于景观（landscape）、新材料和直率的细节设计（Aesthetic effect came from the landscape, new materials and forthright detailing.）”。landscape（景观/风景）对应选项B中的 Natural scenes，说明在设计时考虑了自然风光。

核心长难句精解 (High-Light)

1. 伴随状语与非谓语动词：
"We tend to think of the decades immediately following World War II as a time of prosperity and growth, with soldiers returning home by the millions, going off to college on the G. I. Bill and lining up at the marriage bureaus."
【解析】with + 宾语 (soldiers) + 宾补 (现在分词短语) 构成了复合结构作伴随状语。三个现在分词 `returning`, `going off`, `lining up` 并列，生动描绘了二战后美国社会繁荣发展的景象。

2. 复杂的定语从句与对比结构：
"The phrase “less is more” was actually first popularized by a German, the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who like other people associated with the Bauhaus, a school of design, emigrated to the United States before World War II and took up posts at American architecture schools."
【解析】who 引导非限制性定语从句，修饰 Mies。从句的主干是 who emigrated... and took up...。中间插入了 like other people associated with the Bauhaus 作方式/比较状语，而 a school of design 又是 the Bauhaus 的同位语。

3. 同位语与比喻表达：
"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."
【解析】句末的 the architectural equivalent... 是前面 the elegance of the buildings’ details and proportions 的同位语，将建筑的细节与比例之美比作了当时流行的抽象艺术。这是解出第34题的直接依据。