一道语法小疑惑 求解答

tofreesky

OG12 46：

In ancient Thailand, much of the local artisans’ creative
energy was expended for the creation of Buddha
images and when they constructed and decorated the
temples that enshrined them.
(A) much of the local artisans’ creative energy was
expended for the creation of Buddha images and
when they constructed and decorated the
temples that enshrined them
(B) much of the local artisans’ creative energy was
expended on the creation of Buddha images and
on construction and decoration of the temples in
which they were enshrined
(C) much of the local artisans’ creative energy was
expended on the creation of Buddha images as
well as constructing and decoration of the
temples in which they were enshrined
(D) creating images of Buddha accounted for much
of the local artisans’ creative energy, and also
constructing and decorating the temples
enshrining them
(E) the creation of Buddha images accounted for
much of the local artisans’ creative energy as
well as construction and decoration of the
temples that enshrined them

答案是B， 请问B中的they指代什么呢？？？？？？？

gdboy8888

按意思应该是Buddha images 。不过。。从语法上。。我也不知道为什么不是指代temples。 同问。。。

tofreesky

我也觉得按意思指代Buddha images, 但这是和后面平行的一句话，这样指代好

像很少见到 感觉怪怪的

gdboy8888

1. local artisans’ creative energy = possessive so "they" cannot refer to artisans
2. Buddha images = they -- only reference I can find
3. already, "in which" is referring to "temples" so adjacent pronoun "they" is definitely modifying images.

嗯。我觉得这个解释的还不错。