被動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài) 英語(yǔ) 漢語(yǔ) 主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)

ⅠIntroductionPASSIVEvoiceandactivevoicearecommonlanguagephenomenainbothEnglishandChineseandcanbeconsideredsharedconceptsbetweenbothlanguages.SomedistinguishingfactorsexistbetweenEnglishandChineseinvoices,however,whichcausesinappropriatenessandinaccuracyintranslationoftwolanguages,sothatitiscrucialtomakeacomparativestudyoftwovoicesintwolanguages,whichcanproduceaproperandacutetranslationadvancesmutualunderstandingbetweenpeopleofdiverseandculturalandsocialbackgrounds.ThestudyonPassivesandthetranslationofPassivesdevelopveryfastandhaveachievedgreatsuccess.AnumberofcontrastivestudiesofPassiveconstructionsinthetwolanguageshavealsobeenpublished,andstudiesonthetranslationbetweenEnglishandChinesealsohaveappearedearlier,butthesepapersarerarelycombined,whichwillshowmoreclearlythepropertiesofthetwolanguages.Thispaperwillfindoutthemoreaccurateandidiomatictranslationtoachievemutualunderstandingbymakingacorpus-basedcontrastivestudy.Thispaperwillemployacorpus-basedmethodtomakeasystematicexplanationandexplainsomespecificphenomena,moreover,fromtheangle,rulesofusingvoicesinrespectivenativelanguageinEnglish,thepaperfindoutapproachestotranslateEnglishPassives.Here,thepaperemploystwocorpora,andthefirstoneistheFreiburg-LOBcorpusofBritishEnglish(F-LOB),whichisanupdateoftheLOBcorpusandpartofthe“Brownfamily”ofcorpora.FLOBcontains500textsofaround2000words,andaround1millionswords.Asecondcorpus,theLancasterCorpusofMandarinChinese(i.e.LCMC),wasdesignedasaChinesematchforFLOB,representingwrittenChinesepublishedinChinaintheearly1990s(McEnery,XiaoandMo2003).Andthe“Chinese”wementionedherecommonlyreferstoMandarin.Therearethreepartsofstudyinthispaper,whichmainlytalksaboutthePassivevoiceintwolanguagesandtranslationfromEnglishPassivestoChineseactivesorPassives.Inthefirstpart,thepaperwillshowthepropertiesofPassivemorphemesandthesecondpartmainlycomparesthePassivestructuresintwolanguageandcorpus-baseddatesandinthirdpart,thepaperwillrespectivelyexploremeansoftranslationindifferentsituations.

ⅡPASSIVEMarkersinChineseandEnglishInmanycases,somemorphemescanberegardedasPassivevoicemarkersinthesentence.Alsotheremaybenomarkers,buttheycanalsoexpressaPassivevoice.Inthefollowingsectionswewilldiscussthesemarkersrespectively.2.1.PASSIVEMarkersinChineseChineseemploysawiderrangeofPassivemarkers,andthechieflyoneisBEI(被).BEI(被)isneitheraprepositionnoraverbbutafunctionwordwithoutinherentmeaning.(1)敵人被打敗了。 Theenemywasdefeated.ApartfromBEI(被),therearealternativemarkerssuchasJIAO(叫)(tocall;toorder),WEI...SUO(為……所),RANG(讓)(toallow;toconcede),andGEI(給)(togive)thatmainlyareregardedaslexicalverbs,whileGEI(給)canbealsousedasapreposition.Thus,itmayleadtotheambiguitywiththeuseofRANG(讓)orJIAO(叫).（2）我讓（叫）她偷了十塊錢。IhadtenYuanstolenbyher.Iask(allow)hertostealtenYuan.Moreover,therearesomelexicalverbssuchasAI(挨)(tosuffer;toendure),SHOU(受)(tosuffer;tobesubjectedto)andZAO(遭)(tosuffer;tomeetwith).ThePassivesentenceswiththoseparticlesarereferredtoasAutomaticPASSIVE.(3) 一位受了呵斥的小學(xué)生 Aschoolchildwhohasbeenberated(4) 幼兒園隨時(shí)有遭受破壞的危險(xiǎn) Thekindergartenisinariskbeingdestroyedatanytime(5) 有的孩子在家挨了打，出家門(mén)就找人發(fā)泄。 Havingbeenbeatenupathome,somechildrenletofftheirangeronotherswhentheygoout.BesidesthePassivesofthesetwokinds,thereisanotherPassiveinChinesethatcantaketheunmarkedformcallingNotationalPASSIVEs.(6) 雞殺了。 Thechickenhasbeenkilled.(7) 衣服洗了。Theclotheshavebeenwashed.2.2PASSIVEMarkersinEnglishGenerallyspeaking,fewmarkersareusedtoexpressPassivesinEnglishsuchasBEandGET.ThemostcommonPassivemarkerisBE,andthesecondGET,andbothoftwoauxiliaryverbsfunctionasthemainverb.Inmostcases,themorphemesBEandGETcannotbeusedinterchangeablyforexistingnaturaldistinctionbetweentheBE-PASSIVEwiththestativenature,GET-PASSIVEwiththedynamicone.Also,whenthePassiveverbisfollowedbyaninfinitivalcomplement,onlytheBE-PASSIVEisappropriate.(8)Theylikedtobeseentogotochurch(“beseen”cannotbereplacedby“getseen”)InadditiontoBE-PASSIVEandGET-PASSIVE,thereisanotheroneBAREPASSIVE(9)Theseclotheswashwell(theycanbewashedwell).Cf.Theseclothesarewashedwell(theyarewashedwellinaparticularoccasion).2.3PASSIVEStructuresinChinesePASSIVEstructuresinChinesehavebeenpopularlyresearched.ThemostfamiliarPassivestructuresarealongwiththePassivemarkersBEI(被)GEI(給),RANG(讓),JIAO(叫),WEI...SUO(為……所).ThecasesmentionedabovearethemostcommontypesofPassivesinChinese,calledSyntacticPASSIVE.ThemainpurposeofthePassivemarkerinsyntacticPassiveistomarktheundergoingstatusofthesubject.Typically,thePassivemorphemeisaddeddirectlybeforetheverb.However,iftheagentispresent,thePassivemorphemeshouldbeplacedbetweenthesubjectandtheagent.subject(patient)+Passivemarkers+(agent)+verb+phrase(10)(a)BEI(被)PASSIVE自行車被他弄壞了。Thebicyclewasbrokenbyhim.(b)ActiveCounterpart他弄壞了自行車。Hebrokethebicycle.(11)(a)GEI-PASSIVE哥哥也給爸爸打了。Theolderbrotherwasalsobitbyfather.(b)ActiveCounterpart爸爸也打了哥哥。Fatheralsohittheolderbrother.ApartfromBEI(被)andGEI(給),otherstructuresincludeRANG(讓)PASSIVE,JIAO(叫)PassiveandWEI...SUO(為……所).(12)(a)RANG(讓)PASSIVE他讓她偷了十塊錢。HehadtenYuanstolenbyher./HehadhertostealtenYuan.(b)ActiveCounterpart她偷了他十塊錢。ShestolehistenYuan.(13)(a)JIAO(叫)PASSIVE他叫她偷了十塊錢。HehadtenYuanstolenbyher./HehadhertostealtenYuan.(b)ActiveCounterpart她偷了他十塊錢。ShestolehistenYuan。(14)(a)WEI...SUO(為……所)PASSIVE父母為他的孝順?biāo)袆?dòng)。Parentsweremovedbyhisfilialpiety.(b)ActiveCounterpart 他的孝順感動(dòng)了父母。 Hisfilialpietymovedparents.Secondly,passiveconstructionsinChinesecanalsobecovertlymarkedthroughimplicitsemantics.PastresearchhasnotedthatafewlexicalverbsinChinesehaveaninnatepassivesense.ConstructionswithsuchverbslikeSHOU(受),ZAO(遭),andAI(挨)areknownasAUTOMATICPASSIVES.Thiskindofstructurediffersfromthelastone,andusually,ittendstohavenoagent.subject(patient)+passivemarkers+verbphrase(15)他在路遭到了襲擊。 Hewasattackedontheroad.(16)他受到了批評(píng)。Hewascriticized.(17)他在學(xué)校挨了打。Hewasbeatenatschool.AsidefromSYNTACTICPASSIVESandAUTOMATICPASSIVES,paststudieshavealsoobservedthatsomeactiveconstructionsinChinesecanexpresspassivemeaningsaswell.TheseunmarkedpassivesareidentifiedasNOTATIONALPASSIVES.Thiskindofstructureusuallydoesnothaveafixedstructure.(18)飯做好了。Dinnerwasdone.(19)藥吃了。Themedicinewastaken.2.4PASSIVEStructuresinEnglishInEnglish,thepassiveclauseistypicallyconstructedsyntacticallywithanauxiliaryverbandapassiveparticiple.Firstly,theverbfollowingthemainauxiliaryverbismorphologicallymarkedinpastparticipleform.Secondly,thepatientofthesentenceispromotedtogrammaticalsubject,whiletheagentisdemoted.Thirdly,thedemotedagentiseitherabsentorappearsonlyasaprepositionalobjectwith‘by’subject(agent)+verbphrase(+preposition+agentnonephrase)TheBEPASSIVEandGETPASSIVEaredifferentinsemantics.Oneofthemaindifferencesisthenotionofcontrolorintent.LackoffclaimsthatcontrolisretainedbythedemotedactoroftheBEPASSIVE,whilecontrolismaintainedbythepromotedundergoeroftheGETPASSIVE.Thisisclearlyillustratedinconstructionswithpurposeadverbs:(20)(a)BobwashuggedbyJohnintentionally.(b)Johnactedwithintentiontohug.(c)*Bobactedwithintentiontobehugged.(false)(21)(a)BobgothuggedbyJohnintentionally.(b)Bobactedwithintentiontobehugged.(c)*Johnactedwithintentiontohug.(false)ThereisunderlyingnatureoftheBEPASSIVEandGETPASSIVE,whichisthatBEPASSIVEhasastativenature,whiletheGETPASSIVEhasadynamicnature.(22)Thebikewasbroken.(23)Thebikegotbroken.Whatismore,theagentivenatureoftheGETPASSIVEseemstorestrictitsgrammaticalsubjecttoanimacy,insituationswherethesubjectoftheGETPASSIVEisnon-human,andtherebyitselfinanimateandincapableofcontrol.Ahumansubjectrelatedtotheinanimatesubjectoreventwilleitherbegivencontrol,involvedphysicallyoremotionally,oraffectedadversely.(24)(a)Mybookwastornbythenaughtypuppy.(b)Thebookwastornbythenaughtypuppy,becauseitwasverynaughty.(c)*Thebookwastornbythenaughtypuppy,becauseIwasinattentive.(25)(a)Mybookgottornbythenaughtypuppy.(b)ThebookwastornbythenaughtypuppybecauseIwasinattentive.(c)*Thebookwastornbythenaughtypuppybecauseitwasnaughty.ThepreviousstudygavethetwokindsofpassivesmentionedaboveadefinitionofVERBALPASSIVE.AccordingtoHuddlestonandPullum,PassivesconstructedwithBEthatdescribeeventsareverbalBEPASSIVES(26);whilePassivesconstructedwithBEthatdescribeastateareADJECTIVALPASSIVES(27)(28).Infact,BEinADJECTIVALPASSIVESfunctionsasacopulawithapredicativecomplementinacomplexintransitiveconstruction.Hence,thetermADJECTIVALPASSIVEstrictlyreferstothepredicativecomplementratherthanthePassive.(26)BEPASSIVESThecupwasbrokenbyastrongwind.(27)ADJECTIVEPASSIVESNoonenoticedthatthecupwasbroken.(28)ADJECTIVEPASSIVESIamexcited.Exceptfromthetypesmentionedabove,thereexistsanothertypeofPassive-PASTPARTICIPLEPHRASES.Asweallknow,pastparticiplemainlyperformsfourfunctionssuchasperformingpredicative,modifier,objectcomplementandadverbialmodifier.Thispaperwilldiscussthemrespectivelyinthefollowing.Whenusingthepastparticiplesofintransitiveverbsaspredicative,weusuallydonotregardsthemasPassivesasthepreviousstudytold.Whileweusethetransitiveverbsaspredicative,weseethemasPassivesentences,andthiscaseincludesBEPASSIVEandGETPASSIVE,whichwillnotbedealtwithhereagain.ThesentenceswithpastparticlesservingasmodifiersholdthePassivemeanings.(26)POSTNOUNMODIFIERThebookplacedonthedeskbelongstoBob.(27)PRENOUNMODIFIERProvokedsnakesbitedeeperintothewound.WecanexpressthePassivesbysomepastparticlesactingasobjectcomplement.(28)ADJECTIVEOBJECTCOMPLEMENTBobsawthedoctorhitbythepatient.Thelastcaseisthatpastparticleplaysaroleofadverbialmodifier;itcanalsoapplytoPassive.(29)PRE-orPOSTCLAUSEMODIFIER(adverbial)Whentouched,Bobscared.(30)PRE-orPOSTCLAUSEMODIFIER(ambiguous)Refusedapositioninacompany,Bobdecidedtoleave.

ⅢAComparativeStudyofTwoVoicesInthispart,thediscussionwillgoaroundacomparativestudyofpassiveandactivevoices,whichwillencourageustowellunderstandthedistinctionbetweenthetwoandwellguideourtranslationtobedonebetweenthesetwolanguages.3.1TheFrequencyofPASSIVEMarkersinBothLanguagesInthissection,astudyismadeaboutthefrequencyofuseofPassiveintwolanguages,justdealingwiththetwomainPassivemarkersBEandGETonthepartofEnglish,onthebasisofthewrittendatefromFLOBandthespokendatafromBNCdemo.InTable1thereare1026passivevoiceinstancesin100,000words.BasedonthisdatewecanprovidethefrequenciesofbeandgetPassive.Ontheotherhand,weresearchedthe1.3millionwordsinthetwocorpus,LCMCandCallhomeandwefound1,428instancespassivevoiceandgivethefrequencyofseveralmarkerscommonlyusedonthebasisoftwocorpusinTable2.Moreover,wesummarizetheTable1andTable2andproducedtheTable3toillustratetheoverallfrequencyofpassivevoicesinChineseandEnglish.Table1FrequencyofBEandGETPassiveinFLOBPASSIVEmarkersFrequencyBE96.7%GET3.0%Table2FrequencyofChinesePassivemarkersin1.3millionswordsoftextsCorpusThenumberofPassiveinstanceTotalsamplesize(words)normalizedfrequencyLCMC14281300,0000.11%FLOB1026100,0001.0%Table3OverallfrequencyofChinesePassiveandEnglishPassiveincorpusPASSIVEmarkersFrequencyBEI（被）91.0%WEI...SUO4.8%GEI2.8%RANG1.1%JIAO0.28%FromTable1wecanconcludethattheuseofBEPassivearemorefrequentthanGETPassiveinEnglishPassivestructure.Infact,theBEPASSIVEaretheformalPassiveforms.Ontheotherhand,thedistinctfrequencybetweenBEPASSIVEandGETPASSIVEderivesfromthebothtwonature.TheearlierresearchesclaimedthatBEPASSIVEhasastativenature,whiletheGETPASSIVEhasadynamicnature,however,wecanusetheverbBEinbothstativestructuresanddynamicstructures.InChinesetext,BEI（被）tendstousefrequently,andthenextisWEI...SUO（為……所），GEI（給）,RANG（讓）andthePassivemarkerJIAO（叫）israrelyused.It’sobviousthatPassivevoiceinEnglishisemployedmorefrequentthanthatinChinese.InEnglish,ifwefocusonthepatientanditsaffectednesswetendtooptPassivevoice,andparticularlysomeinformativetextshaveatendencytousePassive,whereas,ChinesealwaysavoidthePassivevoiceforitsinflictivemeaning,whichwewillgointodetailinthefollowingsections.3.2SemanticPropertiesofPASSIVEVoiceIthasbeennotedthatPassiveconstructionsinChineseare“usuallyofunfavorablemeanings”inadditiontotheirPassivemeaning.ThisisperhapsbecausetheprototypicalPassivemarkerBEI（被）wasderivedfromitsmainverbusagemeaning?suffer?,sonowadays,PassivevoicesinChineseareemployedaslessaspossible.Table4.illustratesthefrequencyofsemanticpropertiesofChinese.Table4FrequencyofsemanticpropertiesPASSIVEMarkersNegativeFrequencyPositiveFrequencyNeutralFrequencyBEI(被)51.5%10.7%37.8%WEI...SUO(為……所)18.9%39.1%42.0%GEI(給)67.5%7.5%25.0%JIAO(叫)50.0%25.0%25.0%RANG(讓)66.7%26.7%6.6%AI(挨)100%--SHOU(受)65.0%24.1%10.9%ZAO(遭)100%--Fromtheabovedates,wecanseeclearlythatexceptthemarkerWEI...SUO（為……所）whichtendstoexpressneutralandpositivemeaning,theleftmarkersprefertoexpressthenegativemeaning,andunlikeBEI（被）,GEI（給）doesnothaveaninflictivemeaning,whilstGEI（給）ismorelikelytoexpressunfavorablesituationsbecause“thesemanticsofGEI（給）‘togive’isoftentooffersomethingatthegiver’scostinsteadofBEI（被）ngbenefitactivetothegiver”.Particularly,thelexicalverbsAI（挨）andZAO（遭）onlyappearinthenegativetextunderourstudying.Maybethebothtwomean“tosuffer”causingainflictivemeaningandresultingextremelowerfrequencytoexpressagoodevent.NextwemoveonthepartofEnglish,andanothertable,Table5.willpresentsomedatesinvolvedtocomparewithTable4.,sothatwewillobtainanoverallviewaboutthissection.Table5.ThefrequencyofBEandGETsemanticpropertiesPASSIVEtypeNegativePositiveNeutralBE15%4.7%80.3%GET37.7%3.4%58.9%TheearlierstudynotedthatGETPASSIVEtendstoemploytoexpressthespeakers’attitudetowardstheeventmentioned.Onthecontrary,BEPASSIVEVdonotuseinthisway.Table5.showsthecollocationofthesePassiveconstructionsacrossthreemeaningcategories,andfromthistable,wecanconcludethatinthemostcases,thetwoPassivesexpressaneutralattitude,andrarelyshowthepositiveattitude.3.3LongPASSIVEvs.ShortPASSIVEWedefinethePassiveconstructionswiththeagent“LONGPASSIVE”andthosewhichleaveouttheagent“SHORTPASSIVE”.TheancientChinesewithBEI（被）PASSIVEneedstoaddtheagent,whilethemodernChinesetendstoomittheagent.Onthecontrary,thePassiveformsarefreerthanChinese,whichPassivecanexpresssomeideaswithoutmentioningtheagent.TherearetwotablestocomparefrequencyoftheLONGPASSIVEandSHORTPASSIVEinbothlanguages.Table6givesthefrequenciesofLONGandSHORTPASSIVEsintheLCMC.Table7givesthefrequenciesofLONGandSHORTPASSIVEsinEnglishcorpus.Table6.LONGandSHORTPASSIVEinLCMCPASSIVEMarkersLONGPASSIVESHORTPASSIVEBEI（被）39.3%60.7%JIAO（叫）100%-GEI（給）42.5%57.5%WEI...SUO（為……所）100%-SHOU（受）31.9%68.1%ZAO（遭）37.4%62.6%AI（挨）3.3%96.7%Total50.6%49.4%Table7.Longvs.ShortPASSIVEinFLOBPASSIVEMarkersLONGPASSIVESHORTPASSIVEBE8.9%91.1%GET2.9%97.1%BE&GET5.9%94.1%Aswecansee,inChinese,around50.6%PassivesareLONGPASSIVEsand49.4%areSHORTPASSIVEs.InEnglish,however,thereareabout5.9%PassivesareLONGPASSIVE,94.1%ofSHORTPASSIVE.TheproportionofLONGPASSIVEinChineseisalmostaslargeasthatofSHORTPASSIVE,whiletheproportionofSHORTPASSIVEinEnglishis16timesthatofLONGPASSIVE.ThatisEnglishprefertoomittheagentinPassives.AsthePassivevoiceisoftenusedasastrategytohighlightthepatientanditsaffectedness,theagentbecomeslessimportant,andoftenoptionalintherightcontext.Hence,itcanbeexpectedthatagentlessPassivesaresignificantlymorefrequentthanthosewithanagent.Onthecontrary,mostofthePassivemarkerstendstoappearinSHORTPASSIVEs，butsomemarkersparticularlydonotexpressinSHORTPASSIVEsuchasJIAO(叫),WEI...SUO(為……所),andtheremaindershaveatendencytobeemployedinSHORTPASSIVE.3.4ActiveVS.PASSIVEInEnglish,tochoosebetweentheactiveandthePassive,weconsidertheseseveralmainaspects:thepropertiesofagentintheevent;theadvantagesofPlainEnglish;thesyntacticrequirements;rhetoricaldevice;genredistinction.Whentheagentisunknownorimportant,thePassivevoicewillbeemployed.Therearesomecasesthattheagentisunnecessarytoappear:a.Theagentisunknownordifficulttofindout:(31)Themurdererwascaughtyesterday,anditissaidthathewillbehanged.b.Theagentisself-evidentandshowedfromthecontext:(32)Shetoldmethathermasterhaddismissedher.Noreasonhadbeenassigned;noobjectionhadbeenmadetoherconduct;shehadbeenforbiddentoappealtohermistress.c.Thepatientismoreimportantorneedtohighlightortheagentisavaguepronounsubject:(33)Heronlysonwasrunoverbyacar.她的獨(dú)子被汽車軋了(34)Attheteapartyonlyteaandcakewereserved.茶會(huì)上只提供茶和餅。d.Avoidingtheresponsibilityoftheagent:Becausethefinalsafetyinspectionwasneitherperformednormonitored,thebrakeplateassemblymechanismwasleftaligned,afactthatwasknownseveralmonthsbeforeitwasdecidedtopubliclyrevealthatinformation.因?yàn)樽詈蟮陌踩珯z查既沒(méi)有執(zhí)行也沒(méi)有監(jiān)控，剎車盤(pán)組裝機(jī)構(gòu)沒(méi)有正確對(duì)齊，這一事實(shí)在決定公開(kāi)透露這些信息之前的幾個(gè)月就知道了。e.PlainEnglishhelpsindividualstowellunderstand,PlainEnglishencourageustouseactiveasmuchaspossible.Therefollowssomeexamples:(35)PartyBisherebyappointedbyPartyAasitsexclusivesalesinLondon.(36)PartyAappointsPartyBasitsexclusivesalesagentinLondon.(37)ArecommendationwasmadebytheEuropeanParliamentthatconsiderationbegivenbytheMemberStatestoasimplificationoftheawardprocedure(38)TheEuropeanParliamentmadearecommendationthattheMemberStatesgiveconsiderationtoasimplificationofawardprocedure.Activesentencesencourageustonamethespecificagentofanactionandavoidafewextrawords-aformofbeand,whenwepreservetheAgentoftheaction,theprepositionby.BecausethePassivealsoreversesthedirectorderofagent-action-goal,Passiveeventuallycrippletheeasyflowofanotherwiseenergeticstyle.Aswecansee,thesentence(36)and(38)aremorestraightforwardandwellunderstandthanthesentence(35)and(37).Englishhighlightsthehypostasisandsyntacticstructureandexpressionforms.PASSIVEmakesthesentencesgofromonesentencetothenext:(39)Somekindsofplasticscanbeforcedthroughmachineswhichseparatethemintolong,thinstrings,called“fibers”,andthesefiberscanbemadeintoclothPASSIVEvoicemakessentenceskeepend-weightandright-branching,whichisconsistentwiththeEnglishexpressionhabitsofshortsubjectandthecomplexexpressionofpredicates:(40)Iwasamazedthatsheworksinthiscompany.Nowtherearetwoparagraphs,andthefirstoneisinpassivevoice,while,thesecondoneisinactive:Itwasfoundthatdataconcerningenergyresourcesallocatedtothestateswerenotobtained.Thisactionisneededsothatadeterminationofredirectionispermittedonatimelybasiswhenweatherconditionschange.Asystemmustbeestablishedsothatdateonweatherconditionsandfuelconsumptionmaybegatheredonaregularbasis.WefoundthattheDepartmentofEnergydidnotobtaindateaboutenergyresourcesthatFederalofficeswereallocatingtothestates.TheDepartmentneedsthesedatesothatitcandeterminehowtoredirecttheseresourceswhenconditionchanges.TheSecretaryoftheDepartmentmustestablishasystemsothathisofficecangatherdateonweatherconditionsthathisofficecangatherdateonweatherconditionsandfuelconsumptiononaregularbasis.Thefirstparagraph,thesubjectsofthePassivesentenceseemtobechosenalmostatrandom.Particularideastowardthebeginningofeachclausedefinewhatapassageiscentrally“about”forareader,soasenseofcoherencecruciallydependsontopics,soifthatparagraphtopicsshiftrandomly,thenthereaderhastobegineachsentenceoutofcontext,fromnocoherentpointofview.Whenthathappens,thereaderwillfeeldislocated,disoriented,outoffocus.Thesecondpassageisabitlonger,butmorespecific.Weknowwhoissupposedtobedoingwhat.Theactivesentencegivesthereaderaconsistentpointofview;thewriter“stages”thesentencesfromaconsistentstringofsubjects,inthiscasetheagenttheagentsofaction:We...DepartmentofEnergy...Federaloffices...theDepartment...it...thesecretary...hisoffice...Noweachagent-subjectanchorsthereaderinsomethingfamiliaratthebeginningofthesentence-thecastofcharacters-beforethereadermovesontosomethingnew.InChinese,thePassivevoicealwaysexpressestheinflictivevoiceasabovementioned,oftenmakingthesubjectintheunpleasantorundesirablesituation.Influencedbythewesternlanguage,PassivevoiceespeciallyBEI(被)PASSIVEhasatendencytousemorefrequent,however,weavoidtousetheBEI(被)PASSIVEstructureevenwithsemanticPassive.Ontheotherhand,iftheagentisunimportantandwecaneasilyjudgedthevoices,andweusetheactivevoiceinformtoexpressthePassive:(41)Itwasdone.這件事已做了。Moreover,thePassivestructureinEnglishisbasedoncopula-predicativeformsothatthePassivecanexpressthedynamicandstaticsentences,whilethatinChineseonlycanexpressthestaticsentences.DifferentgenrehasadifferentfrequencyofPassiveandactivevoices.Theactiveisgenerallythemorecommon,butthereisconsiderablevariationamongindividualtexts.ThePassivehasbeenfoundtobeasmuchastentimesmorefrequentinonetextthananother.ThemajorstylisticfactordeterminingitsfrequencyseemstoberelatedtothedistinctionbetweeninformativeandimaginativeproseratherthantoadifferenceofsubjectmatterorofspokenandwrittenEnglish.ThePassiveisgenerallymorecommonlyusedininformativethaninimaginativewriting,notablyintheobjective,non-personalstyleofscientificarticlesandnewsitems.ThePassivevoiceallowsonetoexpressideaswithoutattributingthemtoaspecificindividualsource.Thatiswhyitissowidelyusedingovernmentcommunication,inwhichdecisionandopinionsarepresumedtobethoseofthebureauoragencyasawholeandnotofindividualofficials.TheweakPassiveisusedinnewspaperwritingforthesamereasonforthesamereasonforwhichitisusedingovernmentcorrespondence:toachievetheimpersonalnote,andthus,inmanyinstances,todisclaimdirectresponsibilityforstatementthatarebasedonhearsay.

ⅣMeansofTranslationofVoicesinEnglishandChineseBetweenEnglishandChinese,thereareeightkindsofsituationswhenwetranslatetwovoicesintwolanguages:Table8Chinese-EnglishtranslationofvoicesChineseEnglishActiveActivePASSIVEPASSIVEActivePASSIVEPASSIVEActiveTable9English-ChinesetranslationofvoicesEnglishChineseActiveActivePASSIVEPASSIVEPASSIVEActiveActivePASSIVEThefirsttwokindsinTable8andTable9areconventionalforms,sothispaperwillnotexplainthesetypes.PastresearchesonuseofvoiceinEnglishandChinesehasfoundahigherfrequencyofPassiveinEnglishandactiveinChinese.AstudyaboutthetranslationbetweenChineseandEnglishshowedthatthereisahigheruseofPassiveconstructioninChinesetranslationthaninChinesenativelanguagetext,whileahigheruseofactiveconstructioninEnglishtranslationsthanEnglishnativelanguagetext.Sothatthelasttypeoftwotablesareinfrequentandtheleftaremorecommonandarethefocusinthissection.TheabovementionedisaresultofInfluencefromthesaucetext,aswecansee,thetendencyoftheuseofvoicesindifferentlanguagesplayakeyroleinthetranslatedtext.ThereisatablethatillustratedthefrequencyofPassivemarkersinChinesenativetextsandtranslatedtexts.Table10FrequencyofPassivemarkersinChinesenativetextandtranslatedtexts.BEI(被)PASSIVERANG(讓)PASSIVESHOU(受)PASSIVEGEI(給)PASSIVEZAO(遭)PASSIVETotalFrequencyChineseNativeText0.122%0.058%0.035%0.033%0.022%0.270%TranslatedText0.257%0.024%0.156%0.035%0.029%0.501%FromtheTable10.wecanconcludethatinChinesetranslatedtextthePassivemarkersBEI(被)isemployedmorefrequentlyandPassivestructurehasahigherfrequencyinChinesetranslatedtextthanChinesenativetext.Next,wewillhaveadetaileddiscussionaboutthetranslationofvoicesbetweenthetwolanguages.4.1PASSIVEVoicesinEnglishtoActiveChineseBecauseofthepropertiesoftwovoicesintwolanguagesaswementionedbefore,EnglishtendstoshowPassivewhileChinesetendstoshowactivevoice.SowetendtotranslatethePassivestructureinEnglishtoactiveChinese:(42)The