The significance of local authorities undertaking the task of rebuilding city centers lies in that ______ .

D
逻辑关系的找寻与判断。关于地方政府承担市中心重建任务的重要意义，录音中提到当地政府成为了important patrons of architecture（重要建筑赞助商），并且指出“This represented a shift away from the private individuals who had dominated the architectural scene for centuries.”，可知，该事件意味着建筑赞助者从私人向政府的转变，因此具有很大意义。因此选项D为正确答案。【录音原文】　　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 Modern 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.