[求助]OG 132

crossmoon

132. According to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, companies in the United States are providing job training and general education for nearly eight million people, about equivalent to the enrollment of the nation's four-year colleges and universities.
equivalent to the enrollment of
the equivalent of those enrolled in
equal to those who are enrolled in
as many as the enrollment of
as many as are enrolled in
The phrases equivalent to in A, the equivalent of in B, and equal to in C have too broad a range of meanings to be used precisely here: that is, they can suggest more than merely numerical equality. Also, as quantitative expressions, equiva­lent and equal often modify nouns referring to uncountable things, as in "an equivalent amount of resistance" or "a volume of water equal to Lake Michigan." To establish numerical comparability between groups with countable members, the phrase as many as is preferable. Choice D, however, uses this phrase improperly in comparing eight million people to enrollment, not to other people. The comparison in E, the best choice, is logical because people is understood as the subject of are enrolled.


OG中讲：The phrases equivalent to in A, the equivalent of in B, and equal to in C have too broad a range of meanings to be used precisely here: that is, they can suggest more than merely numerical equality。

这是怎么说的呢？我明白equivalent to 等用的是不可数名词，可是OG这句的解释是什么意思啊？

谢谢。

hsWang

OG的意思是这三种说法中“相等”的意思比较宽泛，可以指不仅仅是数量上的精确相等。

vagrant

hi,我的理解是这样的：
8 million people, about as many as are enrolled in 。。。
补全后的形式为：as many (people) as are enrolled in
所谓比较应该是：去掉两个as后仍然是个完整的句子：people are enrolled in....
所以原句并没有省略，是一个完整结构。请参考下面摘自longman电子字典的句子：
There was division among the Roman catholic episcopate as well and as many favoured the system as were against it. 划线部分去掉比较后为两完整句子：
people favoured the system
people were against it
不知我有没有说清楚，请指正

crossmoon

谢谢两位斑竹！