｛求助｝在下不才~请教各位大虾几个PREP里和杨鹏长难句的问题！

pata1988

在下英语功底实在一般，在此请教大家几个问题~大家有空的话就帮帮我哈！谢谢啦~
首先：
杨鹏长难中：
1."Reform” in America has been sterile because it can imagine no change except through the extension of this metaphor of a race,
wider inclusion of competitors, “a piece of the action,” as it were, for the disenfranchised.
2.Fascination with this ideal has made Americans defy the “Old World” categories of settled possessiveness versus unsettling deprivation,
the cupidity of retention versus the cupidity of seizure, a “status quo” defended or attacked.
对其准确的结构划分和中文含义把握不准~大家不妨用符号帮我划分一下结构，并翻译一下句义，谢谢！
3.That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more that its competitors’ charge
is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories.
两个that各自的作用我有点混乱啊...希望大家不吝赐教...

另外还有两道SC也顺便在这儿问了~
1.Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September, slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

(A) less than they did

(B) less than it did

(C) less than they were

(D) lower than

(E) lower than they were
less和lower在此的区别以及在比较中到底什么时候可以省略，什么时候不行，哪些部分可以省略哪些不行？（各种困惑，麻烦大家啊）

2.The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.

(A) of there being little that is a significant difference

(B) of there being little that is significantly different

(C) of little that is significantly different

(D) that there is little that is significantly different

(E) that there is little of significant differences
为什么是选D，整个有点乱，little这里作代词么？there is little that is就是搞不清白...替我解惑吧各位！再次感谢~~

好了，问题够多的了~望好人达人相助^^

pata1988

顶起~各位帮帮忙啊~知道什么说什么，想说多少说多少~