[求助]og119

119. Executives and federal officials say that the use of crack and cocaine is growing rapidly among work­ers, significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to busi­ness of more than $100 billion a year.fficeffice" />

(A)     significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already are a cost to business of

(B)         significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, which already cost busi­ness

(C)     significantly compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, already with business costs of

(D)     significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costing busi­ness

(E)         significant in compounding the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, and already costs business

Choice B, the best answer, uses clear and concise phrasing to state that it is the effects of drug    

awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the prepositional phrase that modifies it ( 110题犯了同样的错误) , and are already a cost to business is wordy and awkward compared to cost business（体会中间的区别）. In C, already with business costs of... is awkward and unclear, failing to specify that those prior effects generate the cost. Choices D and E produce faulty constructions with the phrase significant in compounding, which cannot grammatically modify the verb form is growing.

这里的to business is awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the prepositional phrase that modifies it中的prepositional phrase指的是什么？

原来cost of of  more than $100 billion year应该是连在一起的，中间加上了to business所以就。。。。。awkward and confusing.........

杨鹏难句里面这种句子有很多阿，就不算错句了？？？？？真搞不懂

to business awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the prepositional phrase that modifies it

A项中说这个 to business 是confusingly得，我想问问大家为什么是confusingly呢，是修饰模糊还是什么，看到OG中好多都用这个词解释，但在这不明白，大家帮忙看看，谢谢

以下是引用zhoushao在2005-3-22 7:38:00的发言：

to business awkwardly and confusingly inserted between cost and the prepositional phrase that modifies it

A项中说这个 to business 是confusingly得，我想问问大家为什么是confusingly呢，是修饰模糊还是什么，看到OG中好多都用这个词解释，但在这不明白，大家帮忙看看，谢谢

说a cost to busi­ness of more than $100 billion a year是confusingly，是因为歧义，不知道more than $100 billion a year是修饰business还是cost：是说a cost of more than $100 billion a year，还是说business of more than $100 billion a year呢？

感觉不是由于歧义.

  110. It has been estimated that the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy in lost industrial output and tax revenues is at least $20 billion a year.

(A)  the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy in lost industrial output and tax revenues is at least $20 billion a year

(B)  the annual cost of illiteracy to the United States is at least $20 billion a year because of lost industrial output and tax revenues

(C)  illiteracy costs the United States at least $20 billion a year in lost industrial output and tax revenues

(D)  $20 billion a year in lost industrial output and tax revenues is the annual cost to the United States of illiteracy

(E)   lost industrial output and tax revenues cost the United States at least $20 billion a year because of illiteracy

In choices A, B, and D, the combined use of annual and a year is redundant. Choices A, D, and E are awkward and confused because other constructions intrude within the phrase cost... of illiteracy: for greatest clarity, cost should be followed immediately by a phrase (e.g., of illiteracy ) that identifies the nature of the cost. Choice E is particularly garbled in reversing cause and effect, saying that it is lost output and revenues rather

这题应该不会存在什么歧义, 但是把of结构分开还是不好, 所以感觉这个结构应该是一个完整的表达, 不是由于歧义, 而是一个清晰度的要求.

为什么呢，我觉得ETS在这题中也证实了109得这点，必须followed immediately by a phrase (e.g., of illiteracy ) that identifies the nature of the cost，否则，像109插入to business就会产生anyname说得那种歧异