【正确答案】正确答案：From ancient times the Chinese nation has never placed man in the paramount position in the universe. As reflected both in philosophy and in art, man has always held a well-proportioned position in relation to other objects in nature and has never acted as the absolute master over all other creatures. Thus we Chinese people in general have suffered less from mental depression than westerners, as the intensity of mental depression is generally determined by the magnitude of desires and ambition. People in agricultural societies enjoy much less material comfort than those in industrial societies, and accordingly they have much less desires. Moreover, freedom from detainment or enslavement by material possessions has always been taken as the philosophy of life throughout China's history.

【答案解析】解析：1．本段为哲学思辨性文本，对古往今来中西方哲学思想进行比较分析，故宜采用现在完成时为总体时态。 2．第2句的“为少为小”意思是“小于和少于”。需要注意的是less是不能作为表语的，例如“我的钱比你少”绝不可译成My money is less than yours，而应译成I have less money than you。同理，本句前半句不能译成Our depression is weaker and less，而应该对它的主语进行调整，改用“我们”为主语，增补动词词组suffer from作为谓语，前半句则译成Thus we Chinese people in general have suffered less frommental depression than westerners：本句中的“基本上”的实际意思是“大致上”，不能望文生义译成basically．译成in general比较准确。 3．根据本段文字的哲学思辨特征，第2句的“苦闷的强弱”可译成intensity of mental depression；“欲望与野心的大小”可译成magnitude of desires and ambition，形成相互对应；“随……而转移”在本句中可译成isdetermined by。 4．第3句的“享受”实指“物质享受”，可译成动词enjoy，增补material comfort为宾语，意思精确，同时与mental depression形成鲜明对应。 5．第4句在翻译时要注意正确理解个别词汇的现代汉语意思，如：“况”意为“况且”；“不滞于物”和“不为物役”当中的“物”指的是“物质”，“滞”可以理解为“因……而停止”或“被……所束缚”，“役”指的是“奴役”，这里的意思是“被……奴役”。所以这句话翻译成现代汉语应该是“而且中国古代一直以不被物质所束缚和奴役为最主要的人生哲学”，“素来”意为“从来”，所以可译成has always been。