参考答案：D

解析：[听力原文] 21-25 The most important trends in early 20th century architecture simply passed Britain by. Whilst Gropius was working on cold, hard expanses of glass, and Le Corbusier was experimenting with the use of reinforced concrete frames, we had staid architects like Edwin Lutyens producing Neo-Georgian and Renaissance country houses for an outmoded landed class. In addition there were slightly batty architect-craftsmen, the heirs of William Morris, still trying to turn the clock back to before the Industrial Revolution by making chairs and spurning new technology. Only a handful of Modem Movement buildings of any real merit were produced here during the 1920s and 1930s, and most of these were the work of foreign architects who had settled in this country. After the Second World War, the situation began to change. The Modern Movement’s belief in progress and the future struck a chord with the mood of post-war Britain and, as reconstruction began under Attlee’s Labor government in 1945, there was a desperate need for cheap housing which could be produced quickly. The use of prefabricated elements, metal frames, concrete cladding and the absence of decoration -- all of which had been embraced by Modernists abroad and viewed with suspicion by the British -- were adopted to varying degrees for housing developments and schools. Local authorities, charged with the task of rebuilding city centers, became important patrons of architecture. This represented a shift away from the private individuals who had dominated the architectural scene for centuries.

[分析]： 语义的理解和判断。 关于英国20世纪早期的建筑特色，原文第一句表明The most important trends in early 20th century architecture simply passed Britain by 即英国对20世纪早期世界上最重要的建筑趋势不理不睬。在随后的支持性细节中，作者指出在其它国家的建筑师积极尝试新材料进行构建时，英国却仍然在建造Neo-Georgian和Renaissance式的田园屋舍，由这两种式样可推断出英国仍在坚持其传统建筑风格。因此D项的含义与原文相符，是正确答案。[解题关键] 正确理解原文相关信息处的关键词，并掌握词汇替换是解题的关键。本题中需理解原文pass... by的含义为“对……不予理会”，并和选项D中remained aloof from意思相当。