1.A "sliver democracy" that spends far more on the the elderly than on eduction and child care.  spend…on然后，和the the elderly做比较的eduction and child care前面加了on

【答】在并列结构或比较结构中，承前省略掉重复多余的成分，这在正常不过了。这也是语言表达的基本要求。啰嗦重复是语言的大忌。

就本句而言，前面有了spends，在than 之后就没必要重复一次： far more on the the elderly than on eduction and child care。在eduction and child care 之前加on，是为了防止误认为eduction and child care跟前文的其他名词并列，这样做的目的，是明确告诉读者是与the the elderly 并列。

2.Perhaps it is more helpful to look at specific issues rather than the social impact of advertising in general. look at然后，和specific issues比较的the social impact of advertising 为什么前面却没有加介词at? 表示没有比较是并列的时候

【答】本句，在the social impact of advertising in general之前加at完全可以，不加at也不会造成误解。look at A rather than B，等于说：look at A rather than at B，只要不造成歧义，就可省略。

3.Western culture's continuing development then led to the Scientific Revolution,the Enlightenment,the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and to what is considered today as modern civilization. Led to…and to… 老师说，第二个 to 必须有，这样做是为了明确告诉读者，前面省去了led，不然的话会造成误读。

【答】是的，理解正确。第二个to 告诉读者是led to 的省略。

4.It is uncommon for corporations to direct their attention to serving for shareholder and management interests, and to achieving the highest short-term financial return. Direct attention to…and to…

5.All worms found in meat were derived from the droppings of flies,and not from the decaying meat. Derived from…and from… 那4，5句中的搭配的to和from是不是也和lead to的to一样不能省略？

【答】是的。网友理解正确。

总体来说，像介词这类虚词，最好不要省略，反正占的字数不多。有时省略过多会造成误读。