请同志们帮忙看看，这道题对C答案的解释，我怎么认为有问题？谢谢。
Recently discovered fossil remains strongly suggest that the Australian egg-laying mammals of today are a branch of the main stem of mammalian evolution rather than developing independently from a common ancestor of mammals more than 220 million years ago.
(A) rather than developing independently from
(B) rather than a type that developed independently from
(C) rather than a type whose development was independent of
(D) instead of developing independently from
(E) instead of a development that was independent of
Choice B, the best answer, correctly uses the construction mammals ... are a branch... rather than a type, in which the terms compared by rather than are grammatically parallel nouns. Choices A and D fail to parallel branch with another noun, instead following rather than or instead o/with the verb phrase developing independently from.... In C, the expression a type whose development was independent of a common ancestor states the opposite of the original point_that the type of mammal mentioned was thought to have developed independently of the main stem of mammalian evolution, but still to have descended from a common ancestor. Choice E repeats the error of C, further straying from the intended meaning by referring to the type as a development.作者: Peace 时间: 2003-4-7 14:56
