单选题 All the major cities of the United States, ______the cities of the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, began as centers of the trade.

A、 and to include
B、 which including
C、 included
D、 including

【正确答案】 D

【答案解析】解析：本题考查句子结构和动词形式。根据题干，主语为cities，谓语为began，可初步判断空格处应该填入非谓语动词形式或者从句。B选项中which可引导定语从句，但including为非谓语形式，不可充当定语从句的谓语，故不能选。由此可知，including为现在分词结构，表示“包含”，符合句法要求。