rather than 后面的to可省略吗？

Evangeline璇

OG16  124题
While many of the dinosaur fossils found recentlyin northeast China seem to provide evidence of the kinship between dinosaur andbirds, the wealth of enigmatic fossils seem more likely at this stage thatthey will inflame debates over the origin of birds rather than settle them.
A. seem more likely at this stage that they willinflame debates over the origin of birds rather than
B. seem more likely that it will inflame debates overthe origin of birds at this stage than
C. seems more likely to inflame debates on theorigin of birds at this stage rather than
D. seems more likely at thisstage to inflame debates over the origin of birds than to
E. seems more likely that it will inflame debates onthe origin of birds at this sage than to

选D
网上的解答中不选C的原因的原因有二：
1.at this stage的位置问题 这个我认同
2.rather than后面to破坏了平行。做题的时候我也是这样想的 但是看到有人说rather than加to 则to可以省略？我对这个有疑问求解答

dorrit_wjx

rather than后面接to do和do一般是没有界限的，但是通常只有当rather than放在句首的时候to才会省略。这里考察的是平行结构，要求相平行的部分的结构和功能都要尽可能的一致，个人觉得有to 当然比没有to 好呀。。毕竟sc还要求选最优的。。。