请教大全62题following

renprince2

62. After gradual declension down to about 39 hours in 1970, the workweek in the United States has steadily increased to the point that the average worker now puts in an estimated 164 extra hours of paid labor a year.
(A) After gradual declension down
(B) Following a gradual declension down
(C) After gradual declining down
(D) After gradually declining
(E) Following gradually declining

D与E的区别就是After 与following的区别。字典对following的解释是：
after an event or as a result of it
ￚopposite before
Following the president's speech, there will be a few minutes for questions.
Thousands of refugees left the country following the outbreak of civil war.
There will be time for questions following the lecture.

从解释及例句是不是可以认为：following后面只能跟名词？

jonathanher

显然，GEMJ的解释更有道理，following+名词

Radia_ting

还是一个following的逻辑主语的问题。

显然这里the work week做following的逻辑主语是不适合的。

相比之下，用介词after就没有这个麻烦了。

GMAT中间还考到了，类似的with，during做介词解决逻辑主语的问题。

hebbechou

 1.Following the president's speech, there will be a few minutes for questions. 2.Thousands of refugees left the country following the outbreak of civil war. 3.There will be time for questions following the lecture.

1.3.都是questions following ,2.是refugees following ,

本题不能说work week following,我觉得.

wall_streets

我认为gemj有理.

following +N.

after + doing /n.

dbearwanger

我觉得可以这样解释，不知对不对？
following后面跟的内容应该是as a result of what has been mentioned before,所以前后关系倾向于順承关系；而after则不要求前后一定是順承的关系。
而这个句子要表达的意思是工作时间先降后升，前面的内容和后面的内容完全相反，所以after好些