对一道比较体的疑问（prep1-87)

dontwannalose

87. (29293-!-item-!-188;#058&003892)
Results of a United States study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine have shown
college-educated women and women living in the South and West to be significantly more likely to
be using supplemental hormones as women living in the Northeast and Midwest.
(A) college-educated women and women living in the South and West to be significantly more likely
to be using supplemental hormones as women living
(B) college-educated women and women living in the South and West as significantly more likely to
use supplemental hormones than if they are living
(C) college-educated women and those living in the South and West being significantly more likely to
use supplemental hormones than if they lived
(D) that college-educated women and women who live in the South and West are significantly more
likely to be using supplemental hormones as were women that lived
(E) that college-educated women and women living in the South and West are significantly more
likely to use supplemental hormones than women living

正确答案是E，但是我觉得该选项也可以理解成：women and women living in the South and West are significantly more
likely to use supplemental hormones than to usewomen living

所以该选项有歧义，不是吗？
请大家指点
谢谢

stucash

恩,我有很深体会;对于这种 A be more likely to do something than B (to do something), 这里就是搞清楚比较对象. 本题是比人, 确切说是比主语,分开来写就是:
A and B are more likely to do something than C (are likely to do something).
省略都是括号内的.

LZ是认为比后面的动作, 如果比动作, 那么人不能变, 句子应该是,
A and B are more likely to do C than (A and B are likely) to do D.

这里句子里的意思很明显, 是要比较不同的人做相同的事的可能性.
所以不会有歧义.

不知是否清楚, 请NN定夺.

dontwannalose

恩，我知道逻辑上是比人，但这种理解是common sense 的理解， 这句话完全可以理解成比动作，之前在manhattang那个交流网上看到一个800分的牛人说:
'you are not allowed to use 'common sense' to resolve the meaning of a sentence. if there are two grammatically acceptable interpretations, then it's a bad sentence. whether one interpretation is more realistic matters not.'
所以有些疑惑

stucash

恩.LZ所言也很有道理.
不过从另外一个角度上来讲, 假设是比较动作, 也就是后面的不定式, 那么than前后必定平行; 即to不定式动词绝对不能省略;这里却省略了不定式动词, 从这个角度讲, 那么这个选项实际上是错的.

但GMAT给出了这个是最好的答案, 那么说明上面的假设不成立; GMAT不是比较这个动作, 而是比较其他较为合理的东西. 也就是这里根本不是比较动作, 加to use就无从谈起了.

如这样来看LZ应该不用担心会产生歧义了. 因为从常识,从语法上, 好像加to use都不太符合本来要表达的意思.

dontwannalose

thx a lot 4 ur answer, BTW, r u sure that 'to不定式动词绝对不能省略'

stucash

恩，是的。但是暂时没办法找到例子给你，如果句子本意是要比较动作，那么被比较的两项用than连接肯定必须要平行的， 此处如果比动作， than前面有to， 而后面没有， 这明显就错了， 因为不平行。

yangmars

谁说一定要比动作了吗？比较动词的对象不可以吗？use的不是women而是hormones，那么就不是比较use了，这在语法上也是可行的啊？所以不是因为没有补出to就算一定在比主语吧？这题到底问题出在哪里啊？呼唤牛牛啊！！！！