We can't remove the middleman in "one of the ___" structures. We use whats appropriate to ___ part.
So, correct sentence would be: One of every two businesses fail during each year.
D & C.
E looks awkward.
Among the surest indications on Earth of sunspot cycles is believed to be the rate at which trees grow.
"of sunspot cycles on Earth is" would've looked better.
I would go with 1.
We could've used "As did", if sentence were something like:
As did many self taught artists, Perle Hessing painted.....
Hope it makes sense.