they能指代物么？

chenbingyz

请教各位大侠：
At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the company, including among them the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company’s powerful microprocessor chip.

A.including among them the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

B.which includesthe threat of a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales of

C.included among these the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

D.among themthe threat of a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
E.among these the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for
这题的正确答案是D，可是我不大理解them能指代物。them是they的宾格，应该指代人吧？
谢谢！

wendydou

them 可以指代他们，她们and它们

chenbingyz

谢谢！
不过我一直以为them作为they的宾格，只能指代人或动物之类，不能指代challenges.

abjure

我没看这道题，
单从语法角度上来讲
可以的. them, ones, 都可以指代人和物。
你说的callenges 是属于 abstract noun， 可以用来指代。 LZ反过来想想，假如不用他们，那需要用代词指代的时候要该用什么来指代呢

those/these 作为指示代词 一般不可以裸奔（极端平行的条件下除外。）
即 those challenges/ these challenges etc.