Help, XDF-s8-14 , Can "did" be omitted here?

isuffering

14. Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates.
(A) that flourished at the same time as the civilizations
(B) that had flourished at the same time as had the civilizations
(C) that flourished at the same time those had
(D) flourishing at the same time as those did
(E) flourishing at the same time as those were

B.C.D.E are definetely wrong.

But I think (A) is also wrong.

Let's analyse the stuctrue of the sentence,
  
"Salt deposits and moisture threaten to destroy the Mohenjo-Daro excavation in Pakistan, the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates."

We got

Subject + Predicate + Object , Objective Complement;

And

Let's analyze the structrue of the Objective Complement,

"the site of an ancient civilization that flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates."

We got

the site of an ancient civilization +that clause

and

that clause is an Attibutive Subordinate Clause and modifies "an ancient civilization"

and

"that" refers to "an ancient civilization"

Then

Let's analyse that clause only

"An ancient civilization flourished at the same time as the civilizations in the Nile delta and the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates."

that is

"An ancient civilization flourished at the same time as the cicvilizations."

It's a wrong sentence.

It seems that "time"  compares with "the civilizations", but "time" and "the civilizations" are not comparable conceptions.

Since,

比较规则:
主句为单一动词, 比较从句用do, did, does 来代替这一动词.条件是动作后面的宾语或状语进行比较, 且没有歧义.

I think the correct one should be

"An ancient civilization flourished at the same time as *did* the cicvilizations."

And Then

When come back to choice, the correct one should be,

"that flourished at the same time as *did* the cicvilizations"

and "did" can't be omitted here.

Looking forward to your discussion.

Thanks in advance.

[此贴子已经被作者于2003-7-15 21:26:15编辑过]

tongxun

1. I think the choice A is ok, because there is no confusion in the sentence although word did may be omitted.
2. the word civilization differs from cililizations.

isuffering

thanks, tongxun.

I think we have to choose A since A is "the better one" from the choices.