问答题
The Chinese, from the highest to the lowest, have an imperturbable quiet dignity, which is usually not destroyed even by a European education. They are not self-assertive, either individually or nationally; their pride is too profound for self-assertion. They admit China"s military weakness in comparison with foreign Powers, but they do not consider homicide the most important quality in a man or a nation. I think that, at bottom, they almost all believe that China is the greatest nation in the world, and has the finest civilization. A Westerner cannot be expected to accept this view, because it is based on traditions utterly different from his own. But gradually one comes to feel that it is, at any rate, not an absurd view; that it is, in fact, the logical outcome of a self-consistent standard of values. The typical Westerner wishes to be the cause of as many changes as possible in this environment, the typical Chinaman wished to enjoy as much and as delicately as possible. This difference is at the bottom of most of the contrast between China and the English-speaking world.
【正确答案】
【答案解析】中国人，上至达官显贵，下至黎民百姓，都有一种泰然自若的尊严，即使是欧洲教育也无法把这种态度抹杀殆尽。中国人不论是个人还是整个民族都是谦虚谨慎的，他们的自豪深深地扎根于他们的自信之中。他们承认与外国列强相比自己在军事上的落后，但他们并不认为屠杀是一个人或一个国家最重要的品质。我认为，实际上，他们所有人都认为中国是世界上最伟大的国家，拥有最优秀的文明。西方人却无法接受，因为这是基于与自己的历史有千差万别的传统认识。但西方人逐渐地认识到，不管怎样，这并不是一种荒谬的观点，而事实上是价值观的自我延续。典型的西方人希望能在环境中引起尽可能多的变化，而典型的中国人希望可以尽情地享受别致的生活。这方面性格的差异是导致中国和西方国家差异的根本所在。
[解析]
They are not self-assertive, either individually or nationally; their pride is too profound for self-assertion.
分号把本句分为两部分，第一部分是简单句，包含一个either...or词组作状语修饰主句“They are not self-assertive”。第二部分同样是个简单句。
“individually or nationally”属于副词，在句中作状语，但不能翻译为“人地或民族地”，应处理为汉语的状语形式来修饰主句，译为“不论是个人还是整个民族”。
中国人不论是个人还是整个民族都是谦虚谨慎的，他们的自豪深深地扎根于他们的自信之中。
The typical Westerner wishes to be the cause of as many changes as possible in this environment, the typical Chinaman wished to enjoy as much and as delicately as possible.
该句以逗号为节点可以分为两部分，第一部分主语是“the typical Westerner”，谓语动词是“wish to be”，宾语是“the cause of”后是修饰词来修饰“cause”。第二部分，主语“the Chinaman”，谓语动词“wish to enjoy”，后面的“as much and as delicately as possible”修饰动词“enjoy”。
典型的西方人希望能在环境中引起尽可能多的变化，而典型的中国人希望可以尽情地享受别致的生活。
词类转换得以在此句充分运用。“be the cause of”与句中第二部分“enjoy”相对应。为了达到呼应的效果，把“be the cause of”转换为动词形式译为“引起”。“delicately”在句中是副词，在增译“enjoy”得到宾语之“生活”之后，转换“delicately”的词类，变为形容词“精致的”以达到最佳表达效果。