英語(二)閱讀命題思路與英語(一)存在一定的差異。為了幫助大家更好地復習，小編為各位同學梳理一下歷年考研英語(二)真題閱讀文章中涉及的要點，包括詞匯、短語、長難句以及簡單的閱讀方法。接下來看一下2011年考研英語(二)真題閱讀Text 3，這篇文章主要探討了二戰(zhàn)后美國興起的以“少即是多”為核心概念的簡約建筑風。

　　The apartments in the elegant towers ... were smaller ... than those in their older neighbors ... 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 ...

　　apartment“公寓”;elegant“典雅的”;neighbor“鄰居”;popular“受歡迎的”，常見搭配be popular with;airy“通風的”;afford“提供”;detail“細節(jié)”;proportion“比例”;architectural“建筑學的”;equivalent“等同物”;abstract art“抽象藝術”。

　　The trend toward “less” was not entirely foreign. In the 1930s Frank Lloyd Wright started building more modest and efficient houses ... than the spreading two-story ones he had designed ...

　　trend相當于tendency“趨勢”;entirely“完全地”，也可以用completely，fully，totally，wholly，寫作中盡量使用同義替換;modest“適度的，有節(jié)制的”;spreading“廣泛的，普遍的”;two-story“兩層的”;design“設計”。

　　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... may have mispredicted just how the 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.

　　commission“委任”;talented“有才華的”;yet another“另一種”;homegrown“國產的”，也可以表示“自家種植的”;influence“有影響力的事物”，往往與介詞on搭配;aesthetic“美學的，審美的”，aesthetic effect可以指“美學效應”;landscape“風景”;material“材料”;forthright“直截了當的”;detailing“細節(jié)設計”;mispredict“錯誤預測”，反義詞predict;revolution“革命”;impact在此充當動詞“影響”;acquire“獲得”;helicopter“直升飛機”;eventually“最終”;clothes dryer“干衣機”;self-sufficiency“自給自足”;desirable“令人滿意的，值得擁有的”;inevitable“不可避免的，必然的”;be widely shared“得到廣泛認可”。