请问这句话的语法到底该如何理解？

swordman1911UID: 3044946

下面这句话摘自一本英文原版书：
However oddly it may sound, it does not seem too much to say, that, in everything which enters into the composition of actively industrious and well-organized communities, there is vastly less difference between them (指的是Chinese) and the English, French, and Americans, than between these and the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal, whose proneness to stolid bigotry and oriental laziness were perhaps in part imbibed from the Arabs.
难以理解的是“these”，它指的到底是Chinese， 还是the English, French and Americans?
我个人觉得可能是后者。
理由有二：
其一，作者原本可以在“these”这个地方继续用them，但他没有用，所以，作者必有他意。
其二，these指多数，虽然them (即Chinese)是多数，但the English, French, and Americans也是多数，但在这个语境中，如果"these"这个地方指的是中国人的话，似乎应该用those这个词。

不知各位童鞋有何看法？

gwficbrUID: 3281917

these 和them表达的是一个意思。
there is vastly less difference between them (指的是Chinese) and the English, French, and Americans, than between these and the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal。
所用句型是between A and B，只不过本句中前后用了两个这样的句型，其中A代表them/these B代表the English, French, and Americans/the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal,
具体意思就是them (指的是Chinese) 与the English, French, and Americans之间的差别要小于these/chinese之间的差别。

gwficbrUID: 3281917

these 和them表达的是一个意思。
there is vastly less difference between them (指的是Chinese) and the English, French, and Americans, than between these and the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal。
所用句型是between A and B，只不过本句中前后用了两个这样的句型，其中A代表them/these B代表the English, French, and Americans/the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal,
具体意思就是them (指的是Chinese) 与the English, French, and Americans之间的差别要小于these/chinese与the inhabitants of Spain and Portugal之间的差别

babyenochUID: 3153670

同意楼上~~

swordman1911UID: 3044946

哦，原来如此，明白了！谢谢！ 2# gwficbr

songxiaoshiUID: 3170134

(⊙o⊙)哦,这个好像gre句子啊!有够难懂...不过应该不会出这样的..因为有点歧视arab吧.