The answer is a simile. This is because similes compare two things (these things here are his life and the dusty yards) by using like or as (specifically here as).
The other ones don't make sense: nothing is being over exaggerated (hyperbole), there are no repeating consonants (alliteration), and there are no human characteristics being given to inhuman subjects (personification).
The answer is B: Less than a decade ago, the HSUS...an affiliate [Human Society International].
Brackets are used to give the writers (when they need to add information) an opportunity to add an explanation, or emphasis to a word, or change a <em>quote to fit to a sentence, but without changing the meaning of the text</em>. In A) <em>global work</em> doesn't need explanation; C) <em>decade</em> doesn't need explanation; D) <em>HSUS</em> was already explained in the first sentence of the text.
