单选题

How was the British architecture style characterized in the early 20th century?

A It followed the mainstream trends in the architecture around the world.

B It developed a style of its own, thus distinguishing itself from architecture elsewhere.

C There was a recovery of the architecture style in the Renaissance time.

D It remained aloof from the new trends and stuck to the traditional style.

解析：
语义的理解和判断。关于英国20世纪早期的建筑特色，录音中第一句提到“The most important trends in early 20th century architecture simply passed Britain by”，pass…by意为“对……不予理会”，由此可知20世纪早期英国并未受到世界上最重要建筑趋势的影响。接下来的内容便是支持性的细节，说话者指出其它国家的建筑师们在积极尝试使用新材料时，英国的建筑师却仍在为过气的地主阶级建造Neo-Georgian和Renaissance式的田园房屋。由此可推断，英国仍在坚持传统建筑风格。可知D项的内容与录音原文表达内容相一致。该项中的aloof意为“离群的；置身事外的”。