—Do you have any idea what Paul does all day?

—As I know, he spends at least as much time playing as he __________.

A. writes

B. does writing

C. is writing

D. does write

答案B.

上句可以简写成As I know, at least, he spends as much time playing as he does writing.

问题是：he spends as much time playing as he does writing. 这句结构不能理解。

1)比较级是as...as, 这里如何理解as...as比较级的结构呢？  以前常见的as...as可以理解，例如He rans as fast as Mike. 但是这儿的复杂的as...as...很难理解，

例如为什么是as much time playing as这种不寻常的结构呢？和简单的as fast as 不一样呀？！

2)does替代spends还是spends time? 如何理解，以及为什么？  如果是替代spends, 那么后面省略了什么？如果是替代spends time, 为什么不是spends much time 呢？

麻烦老师详解！ 谢谢！

类似的例子：

The boy spent as much time watching TV as he ( ) studying.

A.did

B.was

C.does

D.had

答案是A.

我不懂，找不到spend的结构，不能理解as much time watching as he did studying究竟是什么结构？

因为它不符合spend+时间+doing sth这一结构呀？

老师能详细分析吗？ 谢谢！