Prep1-47请教

1998 saw several new ventures promoting online distance learning both at the college and graduate level, but also faculty members in large numbers began questioning whether the computer screen was an adequate replacement for the classroom.  

(A) 1998 saw several new ventures promoting online distance learning both at the college and graduate level, but also faculty members in large numbers began

(B) In 1998 several new ventures were promoting online distance learning for both college-and for graduate-level courses, but it was also a year for a large number of faculty members who began

(C) With several new ventures promoting online distance learning both for college and graduate courses in 1998, it was also a year when a large number of faculty members had begun

(D) Although 1998 saw several new ventures promoting online distance learning for both college- and graduate-level courses, it was also a year when a large number of faculty members began

(E) Several new ventures were promoting online distance learning in 1998, at both the college level as well as the graduate, but it was also a year for faculty members to begin in large numbers

D选项1998 saw这个用法觉得很奇怪，可以用年份做主语吗？看到以前的帖子说是拟人用法，还是不明白，有牛牛能帮忙具体解释一下吗？多谢！

D选项1998 saw这个用法觉得很奇怪，可以用年份做主语吗？看到以前的帖子说是拟人用法，还是不明白，有牛牛能帮忙具体解释一下吗？多谢！

这是我第二回见到年份作主语的情况，看来年份的确能作主语，这应该是个习惯用法吧，既然能作主语，主语又不能轻易改变，剩下的就好排除了

再贴一下prep1-98: 答案选D，California has seen也是拟人的用法吧。。。看来要多留心出现see作谓动的情况了，时间和地点都可以作其主语

98.       (29799-!-item-!-188;#058&004009)

A decade after initiating the nation's most comprehensive and aggressive antismoking program, per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as in the nation as a whole.

(A) per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs annually per person to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as

(B) annual per capita consumption of cigarettes in California declined from over 125 packs to about 60, more than twice as great as that

(C) California's annual per capita consumption of cigarettes declined from over 125 packs per person to about 60, more than twice as great as the drop

(D) California has seen per capita consumption of cigarettes decline from over 125 packs annually to about 60, a drop more than twice as great as that