og 250

我觉得是比较结构than后面省略与than前面完全相同的部分,只保留不同及避免歧义的部分

. The company announced that its profits declined much less in the second quarter than analysts had expected it to and its business will improve in the second half of the year.

(D)  expected them to and its business would improve

its profits declined much less in the second quarter than analysts had expected (its profits  to declined )

根据简洁原则,只要不出现歧义,就可以省略与than前面相同的部分,这里省略了我括号扩起的部分.

楼上解释得很精辟。或者认为省略的部分是：analysts had expected (them to be)，them(profits)在句中作宾语。

这道题的比较对像应该是主语的比较，即为实际中第二季度的利润与分析家在过去预测的利润相比

重点都落在利润上，所以应该是利润之间的对比，主体是一样的，只是分别有限定成份

所以我不太同意楼上的补法，如按其在expected后补充搞不清楚到底比较的是什么

不知这样补是不是可以

 its profits declined much less in the second quarter than the profits that analysts had expected

than后由于主体成份the profits与主句的相同可以省略只留修饰限定成份减少歧异，虽然是主语比较但主句中无宾语，从句后也可省略动词补出而不影响原意