17.  Cost cutting and restructuring has allowed the manufacturing company to lower its projected losses for the second quarter, and they are forecasting a profit before the end of the year.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】 Agreement; Idiom; Verb Form
   The point of the sentence is to explain the two main effects of the changes made by the company. However, the singular verb has allowed does not agree with the compound subject cost cutting and restructuring, which are far more plausibly understood as two actions rather than as two facets of a single action. In principle, the manufacturing company could be construed as plural (referring collectively to the decision makers and spokespeople who are projecting losses and forecasting a profit), but the plural pronoun they does not agree with the earlier its, which treats the antecedent as singular.
   A   The singular verb has allowed does not agree with the compound subject cost cutting and restructuring, the plural pronoun they does not agree with the intended singular antecedent company.
   B   The singular verb has allowed does not agree with the compound subject cost cutting and restructuring, allowed for is not the correct idiom.
   C   Allowed that is not the correct idiom; can lower and to forecast are not grammatically parallel.
   D   Correct. The sentence uses the correct subject-verb combination cost cutting and restructuring have allowed; the two occurrences of the pronoun its agree with each other in treating their antecedent company as singular; and the two effects to lower and to forecast are parallel and idiomatic.
   E   Allowed for is not the correct idiom; to lower and as well as forecasting are not parallel.
   The correct answer is D.