一道比较题，请大家来看看，另外看看自己比较是否过关！ 谢谢

The structure of choice (D) is different from choice (A).

Answer choice (A) states:
an area 100 times greaterin the eastern United Statesthanit does in the West

The two things being compared are in italics, and are not structurally comparable. If it may be correct to instead write:

an area 100 times greaterin the eastern United Statesthanin the West

In answer choice (D), the structure is "X is greater than Y". Let's look at the sentence:
an earthquake in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area100 times greater thanwill a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West

Here, we're comparing a "will" clause with another "will" clause.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/because-the-earth-s-crust-t8008.html

Because the Earth’s crust is more solid there and thus better able to transmit shock waves, an earthquake of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West.

(A) of a given magnitude typically devastates an area 100 times greater in the eastern United States than it does in the West
(B) of a given magnitude will typically devastate 100 times the area if it occurs in the eastern United States instead of the West
(C) will typically devastate 100 times the area in the eastern United States than one of the comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(D) in the eastern United States will typically devastate an area 100 times greater than will a quake of comparable magnitude occurring in the West
(E) that occurs in the eastern United States will typically devastate 100 times more area than if it occurred with comparable magnitude in the West
我选的a ,答案是d