101. Even though (the direct costs of malpractice disputes) amounted to (less than one percent of the $541 billion the nation spent on health car) last year, doctors say fear of lawsuits plays a major role in health-care inflation. 见上句子结构,disputes 这里是名词。amounted to 是谓语动词。amount to 与 a sum 语义重复。lower 是长度概念:比…矮;比…短;less 是数量概念:比…少。 P.S. 刚刚发现OG还有一条解释很重要:lower 是形容词,不可以做介词 to 的宾语。而less 这里是名词词性,可以做介词的宾语。
我的一点小感觉.. OG的意思是说主要有了 amount to 所以不能直接跟lower因为它是 adj...当然用a lower sum似乎可以,只是有重复的意思在里面不是最佳..
要是没有amount to 的话...换成..the direct costs of malprcitces...are less than 1 percent of the $541 billion....和 are lower than 1 percent of the $541 billion...感觉上都差不多。.
不过我还是觉得less than 好, 因为 lower, higher讲的是高低...是比较模糊和宽泛的感念.. 当后面是具体的数字 $541 billion的时候...感觉还是用less 比较好..