885中题目-看了解释仍有疑惑，请教中 - 20-07/19-07/17-22/11-20/11-16

885做完，看了解释，还有一些不是很明白的，向各位请教。(如果站内有了相同的内容，在此向版主和前辈们鞠躬道歉，实在是已经有点云里雾里了)

20 - 07.  As rare as something becomes, be it a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp, the more avidly it is sought by collectors.  D/E

(A) As rare as something becomes, be it

(B) As rare as something becomes, whether it is

(C) As something becomes rarer and rarer, like

(D) The rarer something becomes, like（E）

(E) The rarer something becomes, whether it is

问题：大全的解释是D) 根据句意like后的名词更应作为something的举例，而非比较，用like就把a baseball card or a musical recording or a postage stamp排除在something之外了。
        

我个人理解这个句子是: 当一个东西变得愈稀有,象棒球卡,音带,或邮票, 它就愈为收藏者所追逐.  Like 就是举例,不涉及是否要把这三个东西排除在外.  而E用whether it is … or … or …, 反而把something 局限于这三种东西了.

(A) that produce and make it understandable has revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

(B) of producing and understanding it have revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity

(C) by which it is produced and understood has revealed not underlying simplicity but great complexity

(D) by which it is produced and understood have revealed great complexity rather than underlying simplicity（A）

(E) by which one produces and understands it have revealed great complexity instead of underlying simplicity

问题：A选择中的Instead of 通常是不用的, 而C似乎是正确的.

大全解释认为: C, it 不能understood, 应该理解为it was understood by the processes ，这样句意改变不合逻辑。
            但是我个人觉得应该理解为省略了is. 

17 - 22.   The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals.  A/B

(A) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are

(B) has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is

(C) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine is

(D) have been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are（B）

(E) are established by carbon-14 dating, but that which is much more difficult to determine is

问题：后面明显是很多个并列成分一起的. Why不用复数谓语呢?

11 - 20.   Byron possessed powers of observation that would have made him a great anthropologist and that makes his letters as a group the rival of the best novels of the time.  E/D

(A) makes his letters as a group the rival of

(B) makes his letters as a group one to rival

(C) makes his letters a group rivaling

(D) make his letters as a group the rival of（D）

(E) make his letters a group which is the rival of

问题：Make sthg. as sthg? 正确的用法应当是 make sthg. sthg.  啊?

11 - 16.    Because natural gas is composed mostly of methane, a simple hydrocarbon, vehicles powered by natural gas emit less of certain pollutants than the burning of gasoline or diesel fuel.  D/E

(A) less of certain pollutants than the burning of gasoline or diesel fuel

(B) fewer of certain pollutants than burning gasoline or diesel fuel do

(C) less of certain pollutants than gasoline or diesel fuel

(D) fewer of certain pollutants than does burning gasoline or diesel fuel（E）

(E) less of certain pollutants than those burning gasoline or diesel fuel

问题：Pollutants 是不可数名词吗? Why 用less 来形容呢?