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  <span style="display: block">
    <span style="display: table-cell">a</span>
    <span style="display: table-cell; white-space: pre"> </span>
    <span style="display: table-cell; white-space: pre" id="t"> </span>
    <span style="display: table-cell">d</span>
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<div style="position: relative; z-index: 1; color: red; padding: 1px;">

    a bc d
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