Question

求大神帮忙翻译下这段话，可以的话顺便解释下结构

that therefore the production of the immediate material means of subsistence and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained.

Answer 1

that {therefore the production of [the immediate material means of subsistence] and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch} form the foundation {upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained}.

因此，直接（或用本土）存活物资的生产，从而导致一个民族或其在一段时期内所达到的经济发展水平 形成了 一个民族在国家机构、法律概念、艺术甚至是宗教思想的进化演变过程 和对其解读 的 基础。

这是一段较难翻译的文句。 先要分析意思的片段和句子的结构。 本句可以简化为：
that {A} form the foundation；foundation 被{B}修饰， 所以最终的结构是

that {A} form the {B} foundation 或 that {A} form the foundation {B} (前者较适合中文翻译)

在这结构分析后 {A} 的翻译便相对容易了解了。 主要把[the immediate material means of subsistence] 串在一起。

{B} 的挑战比较大一点。 此处 upon "which" 的 "which" 修饰 foundation； 第二个"which" 指[the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved] 应理解为根据[ 一个民族在国家机构、法律概念、艺术甚至是宗教思想的进化演变]来解释，因而翻译为解读.