prep2里一道语法题求解！！谢谢！！！

puyanli

Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(A) Although the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, it had not been announced until February, 1968.
(B) Although not announced until February, 1968, in the summer of 1967 graduate student Jocelyn Bell observed the first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted.
(C) Although observed by graduate student Jocelyn Bell in the summer of 1967, the discovery of the first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, had not been announced before February, 1968.
(D) The first pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, to be sighted was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell, but the discovery was not announced until February, 1968.
(E) The first sighted pulsar, or rapidly spinning collapsed star, was not announced until February, 1968, while it was observed in the summer of 1967 by graduate student Jocelyn Bell.
答案选C，虽然了解了其他选项里错误的地方，但是C选项中to be sighted was observed难道不是wordy嘛

yangyimo

C选项中没有to be sighted 或者was observed啊，first sighted是动词过去式作形容词了，是最简洁最能修饰pulsar了。。。

mmmmmignon

From Ron of Manhattangmat.com:

Gellar wrote:
The OA is D. Is "sighted plusar" better than "to be sighted", since the pulsar has alreadly been sighted?

Ron answer:

'to be sighted' is better for at least two reasons.

(1) 'First NOUN to be VERBed' is generally the preferred form in discussing the results of human efforts/actions/interference/perception/etc., while 'first VERBed NOUN' is generally used to indicate inherent qualities of the noun.
for instance, the following sentence is preferred:
henry bishop was the first musician to be knighted by a british monarch. --> knighting is performed by humans
the following is NOT preferred:
henry bishop was the first knighted musician in britain. --> this makes it seem as though being 'knighted' is an inherent quality with which henry bishop was born, or that he acquired it naturally/accidentally in some other way

(2) the word 'sighted' means 'having the sense of sight', so this sentence also contains the amusing alternative interpretation of referring to a pulsar that can actually see.

tathagat wrote:
To be sighted is not redundant because "the first pulsar to be sighted was observed"  has a different meaning from "first pulsar was observed"
Reread and you will know :-)

Ron answer:
yes.  it's essential to state that this is the first pulsar to be sighted; there were certainly lots and lots of pulsars before it, but none of those pulsars had the good luck to be sighted.  if you just say "the first pulsar", then you mean that it's literally the first one.