In this paper, we propose a new approach to the problem of degree reduction of Bézier curves based on the given endpoint constraints. A differential term is added for the purpose of controlling the smoothness to a certain extent. Considering the adjustment of second derivative in curve design, a modified objective function including two parts is constructed here. One part is a kind of measure of the distance between original high order Bézier curve and degree-reduced curve. The other part represents the second derivative of degree-reduced curve. We tackle two kinds of conditions which are position vector constraint and tangent vector constraint respectively. The explicit representations of unknown points are presented. Some examples are illustrated to show the influence of the differential terms to approximation and smoothness effect.