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1、第六章 被动与主动(Passive vsActive) 被动语态在英语里是一种常见的语法现象。在某些文体中，使用被动句几乎成了一种表达习惯(passive habit)。SBaker在“The Practical Stylist”一书中指出:“Our massed，scientific，and bureaucratic society is so addicted to the passive voice that you must constantly alert yourself against its drowsy, impersonal pomp被动句促成了物称倾向，物称倾向也滋长了被
2、动句。英语常用被动句，主要有以下几方面的原因: 一、施事的原因。人们表达思想的时候，通常使用主动句。但当主动句的施事(agent)由于以下的原因而不需要或不可能指明时，英语往往采用被动句: 1施事未知而难以言明，如: The murderer was caught yesterday，and it is said that he will be hanged. 凶手已于昨天被捕，据说他将会被绞死。 2施事从上下文中能够不言自明，如: She told me that her master had dismissed herNo reason had been assigned; no obje
3、ction had been made to her conduct. She had been forbidden to appeal to her mistress她告诉我，她的男主人已解雇了她。男主人没有讲明任何理由，对她的行为没有任何异议，也不许她向女主人申诉。3施事不如受事重要，或受事需要强调，如:Her only son was run over by a car她的独子被汽车轧了。 有时为了隐去含糊的人称主语(vague pronoun subject)，也用被动句:At the tea party they served only tea and cakeAt the tea
4、party only tea and cake were served茶会上只供应茶和饼。 4由于特殊的原因而不要指明施事，如为了使叙述显得圆通、得体，或为了表达某种微妙的情绪(tact or delicacy of sentiment)，例如:Some things have been said here tonight that ought not to have been spoken今晚有人在此讲了些不该讲的话。 二、句法的要求。英语重形合，注重句法结构和表达形式。当主动式不便于表达时，出于造句的需要或修辞的考虑，往往采用被动式: 1为了使句子承上启下、前后连贯、便于衔接，如:Some
5、 kinds of plastics can be forced through machines which separate them into long，thin strings，called “fibres”, and these fibres can be made into cloth 有几种塑料能够压入机器并分离成细长的纤维，这种纤维能够用来织布。 2为了使句子平衡，保持末端中心(end focus)和末端重量(end weight)，以符合主语简短、谓语复杂的表达习惯，如: 1 was astounded that he was prepared to give me a jo
6、b 他准备给我一份工作，这使我大吃一惊。 三、修辞的考虑。英语修辞学主张不要过度使用被动句，但适当使用被动句能够使表达方法灵活多变，避免句型单调，达到一定的修辞效果。例如使用被动式能够减少以填补词“it”、“there”引导的句式，使句子比较干脆、有力。试比较:There are many ways to vary the basic English sentence pattern of subjectverbobject有许多方法能够变换英语“主一动一宾”基本句型。The basic English sentence pattern of subjectvetbobject can be
7、varied in many ways 英语“主一动一宾”基本句型能够用许多方法加以变换。 四、文体的需要。某些文体较多使用被动句，以迎合其表达的需要。RQuirk等人指出: There is a notable difference in the frequency with which the active and passive voices are usedThe active is generally the more common，but there is considerable variation among individual textsThe passive has be
8、en found to be as much as ten times more frequent in one text anotherThe major stylistic factor determining its frequency seems to be related to the distinction between informative and imaginative prose rather than to a difference of subject matter or of spoken and written EnglishThe passive is gene
9、rally more commonly used in informative than in imaginative writing，notably in the objective，non-personal style of scientific articles and news items 这类信息性的(informative)文体主要指科技文体、新闻文体、公文文体及论述文体。科技论文注重事理和活动的客观叙述(impersonal activity seen objectively)，力戒作者的主观臆断，因而常常避免提及施事。JPerlmutter指出，“Its traditional
10、 among technical writers to keep themselves in the backgroundto exclude personal pronouns and emphasize their work instead”新闻报道注重口气客观、间接，叙事翔实、冷静(calm factteller)，施事往往难以言明，也不宜言明。公文则注重叙述公正、无私，口气客观、正式。RAhick对此曾作如下解释： The passive voice allows one to express ideas without attributing them to a specific i
11、ndividual sourceThat is why it is so widely used in government communications，in which decisions and opinions are presumed to be those of the bureau or agency as a whole and not of individual officialsBut legitimate use can easily turn into abuseWhile the convention by which governmental edicts come
12、 from an impersonal entity can be defended，the indiscriminate use of the passive as a grammatical camouflage can also be a sign of moral weaknessAnyone who does not wish to assume personal responsibility for his statements finds an “out” by writing “it is directed that” instead of “I direct that，”or
13、 “it is the opinion of the firm” instead of “I think” The weak passive is used in newspaper writing for the same reason for which it is used in governmental correspondence：to achieve the impersonal note，and thus，in many instances。to disclaim direct responsibility for statements that are based on hea
14、rsay 英语有过分使用被动语态的倾向，正式文体尤其如此。英美语言学者都主张多用主动语态，不要滥用被动语态。许多学者认为被动语态虽有不少用处，但显得罗唆(wordy)、间接(indirect)、无力(weak)、隐晦(oracular)，故弄玄虚(mysterious)而深不可测(impenetrable)，使交际者之间隔着一层被动的烟幕(passive smoke-screen)。RQuirk曾引用DSenior攻击被动语态的话，说它是“half the dilatoriness，the passing of the bucks，the shirking of responsibility，
15、the lazy-mindedness，and the want of initiative”从众多语言学者批评滥用被动语态这一事实来看，英语作者出于各种考虑和需要，确实广泛使用着被动语态，尤其常用于上述的科技文章(technical writing)、报刊文章(newspaperese)和官方文章(bureaucratese)。英语的结构被动句(syntactic passive)远比意义被动句(notional passive)多。一般地说，绝大多数的及物动词和相当于及物动词的短语都有被动式。被动式可借助形态变化来表示，因而形式很多：有限定动词多种时态的被动式，也有非限定动词(不定式、分词
16、、动名词)的被动式；有非人称被动式(impersonal passive)，如 it is believed等，也有双重被动式(double passive)，如The date is expected to be announced soon，等等。这些结构被动式不仅应用范围很广，而且使用的频率也很高。意义被动式，即用主动的形式表达被动的意义，在英语里比较少见:1)These products sell like hot cakes(= are so1d) 这些产品十分畅销。2)The clock winds up at the back(=can be wound up)这个钟在背面上发条
