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1、-装- - 订 -线- 班级 姓名 学号 - 答 题 纸（格式二）课程 英汉对比与商务翻译 20 102011 学年第 一 学期成绩 评阅人 评语：（题目）A Brief Analysis of Chinese-English Translation of Unmarked Passive Voiced Sentences浅析隐性被动句的汉英翻译（正文）AbstractPassive voice is a grammatical voice common in both English and Chinese. However, obvious distinctions exist betwe
2、en the usage of passive voice in the two languages, which makes Chinese-English translation a mission of impossible. This brief analysis aims at making certain feasible solutions for one specific type of C-E translation-translation of unmarked passive voice. This brief analysis offers a general pict
3、ure of the usage of passive voice respectivelyin English and Chinese as the groundwork in the first place. Then accordingly, a few suggestions are addressed for C-E passive voiced translation. 摘要无论是中文还是英文，被动语态的应用都非常广泛。然而，被动语态在这两种不同语言中的用法差异甚远，这使得被动语句的汉英翻译十分艰难。这篇文章旨在为汉语被动句中的某一种句子隐性被动句提供一些实际可行的翻译办法。本文首
4、先大致的分析了被动语句分别在中、英文中的用法。然后在此基础上为汉语隐性被动句的英文翻译提出了一些建议。Key Words: passive voice, Chinese-English translation, Chinese unmarked passive voiced sentencev Introduction: similarities and differences of the usage of passive voice in Chinese and EnglishPassive voice is a grammatical voice common in both Engli
5、sh and Chinese. Passive is used in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the main verb. That is, the subject undergoes an action or has its state changed. A sentence whose theme is marked as grammatical subject is called a passive sentence. In contrast, a sentence in which the sub
6、ject has the agent role is called an active sentence, and its verb is expressed in active voice. Many languages have both an active and a passive voice; this allows for greater flexibility in sentence construction, as either the semantic agent or patient may take the syntactic role of subject.(Wikip
7、edia)Despite the common usage of passive voice in both Chinese and English, there are obvious distinctions of it between these two languages.Generally, Chinese tend to avoid using excessive passive voice while English had a strong passive habit.Dr. Lian Shuneng once said: In certain literary style o
8、f English writing, passive voice is used so prevalently that it has become a passive habit among English writers. S.Baker once pointed out in his book “The Practical Stylist”that Our massed，scientific，and bureaucratic society is so addicted to the passive voice that you must constantly alert yoursel
9、f against its drowsy, impersonal pomp(Lian Shuneng, 1993:86)v Usage of Passive Voice in EnglishPassive voice is frequently used in English. Its usage can be roughly classified as follows:1. The Agent In the nature of things, people tend to express themselves via active voice. Whereas in some cases,
10、we have to resort to passive voice reasoning that the agent of the main verb is difficult or unnecessary to be known. 1 The Agent cannot be known : E.g. 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 The agent can be easily inferred from the context : E
11、.g. She told me that her master had dismissed herNo reason had been assigned; no objection 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 The agent is not as important as the patient. Or theres need to stress the pat
12、ient. :Her only son was run over by a car她的独子被汽车轧了。4 Sometimes passive voice is used to pass over the vague pronoun subject:At the tea party they served only tea and cakeAt the tea party only tea and cake were served茶会上只供应茶和饼。5 Passive voice is also used when its not decent to specify the agent or t
13、o express certain tact or delicacy of sentiment :E.g. 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。2. Syntactic Reasons: English values the syntactic structure and expression of a sentence very much. Therefore, passive voice is also used for rhetorical rea
14、sons.1 To make the sentence more coherent :E.g. Some 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 有几种塑料可以压入机器并分离成细长的纤维，这种纤维可以用来织布。2 To keep the sentence balanced by focusing on the end weight in a
15、ccordance with the habitual form of English expression: E.g. I was astounded that he was prepared to give me a job 他准备给我一份工作，这使我大吃一惊。 3. Rhetorical reasons: Proper employment of passive voice can add up to the flexibility of the expression and relieve monotony of sentence structure. Thanks to the pa
16、ssive voice, the vague and weak it/there leaded sentences can be recomposed into a more distinct and powerful expressions.There are many ways to vary the basic English sentence pattern of subjectverbobject有许多方法可以变换英语“主一动一宾”基本句型。The basic English sentence pattern of subjectvetbobject can be varied in
17、 many ways 英语“主一动一宾”基本句型可以用许多方法加以变换。(Lian Shuneng, 1993:86-88)v Usage of Passive Voice in ChinesePassive voice is rarely used in Chinese when compared to English. Active voice is the main voice whether in ancient Chinese or modern Chinese. Passive voiced sentences in Chinese can be categorized as fo
18、llows.1 Marked Passive Voiced Sentence-in which there are prepositions with passive meaning such as 被、叫、让、给.2 Unmarked Passive Voiced Sentence-in which theres no prepositions with passive meaning. Sentences of this type are no different from active voiced sentences. They are passive only in terms of
19、 meaning.1 The category of Marked Passive Voice can be shown as follows(Wang Yun, 2006:15) ：(1)乙被甲V。例：她被解放军救活了。(V表示动词)乙叫甲V。例：西游记叫小张借走了。乙让甲V。例会让人当做猪狗乙给甲V。例：她们都给他说笑了。(2)乙被甲给V。例：我的车被小明给骑走了。乙叫甲给V。例：这事全叫他给说出去了乙让甲给V。例：他让人家给撵走了。(3) 乙被V。例：敌人被赶走了。(4) 乙被甲所V。例：我被这情景所激动(5) 乙为甲所V。例：他为生活所迫2 The category of Unmark
20、ed Passive Voice can be shown as follows(Wang Yun, 2006:15) ： 练习我做完了。 房间打扫干净了。布告帖出去了。v Chinese-English Translation of Passive Voiced SentencesThe gap between English and Chinese passive voice usage makes it difficult to translate the Chinese sentence into English without changing its structure. Thus
21、, its a meaningful topic for us to discuss that how to translate Chinese passive voiced sentences into English in a native and accurate way.Many phrases with passive meaning in Chinese are expressed in active voice, which makes it even more difficult for translators.For example:感染 be inflected with惊
22、醒 be alarmed by恼火 be annoyed by吃惊 be astonished at根据 be based on 享有 be blessed with 身穿 be clothed in 参与 be involved in 1. In terms of the C-E translation of marked passive voiced sentence, corresponding structure be+past participle+by can always be found in English. Therefore, only a brief introduct
23、ion for this type of passive sentence is needed to be brought up here.2. For the C-E translation of unmarked passive voiced sentence, its more complex for translation because of the essential transformation of the sentences structure. The followings are some suggested approaches for C-E translation
24、of passive voiced sentences.1 Maintain the SL subjectIt is our prime choice to keep the SL subject as a subject in target language whenever its acceptable in the TL. (1)会议定于4月6日举行。The meeting is scheduled for April 6(2) 她工作勤勤恳恳、卓有成效，很快就升职为护士长。She worked efficiently and diligently and wassoon promote
25、d as head nurse(3) 昨天晚上我盖了两床被子。Last night I was covered up with two quilts.(4) 来宾请出示入场券。Visitors are required to show their tickets.The subjects of the sentences above have not been altered when translated into English. Needless to say, this is the most ideal way of translation reasoning that the ke
26、pt subject can conduce to maintaining the original stylistic features of the source language.However, not every, or to be more actually, very few unmarked passive voiced sentences in Chinese can be translated in this way without the alteration of the subject.2 Omitting the SL subjectWhen the subject
27、 in Chinese can be obviously known by the readers without any effort, we can omit the subject in the English translation to make it more native and authentic. (1)人们对这一议题迄今为止还没有完全参透。The 1ssue has not yet been thoroughly explored.(2) 人们发现橡胶是很好的绝缘体。Rubber is found to be a good insulating material.(3)维修
28、员终于修好了这台电视机。Finally，the television was repaired（4） 人们正在研究这个问题。The issue is under research now.3 Exchange the subject(or hidden subject) and the object (or hidden object)As mentioned above,English always tend to exercise passive voice even when theres no necessity. This is a linguistic habit rather t
29、han a semantic need. Consequently, it is a must for a good translator to be sensitive to this way of expression. (1) 中国讲汉语。Chinese is spoken in China.(2) 艾滋病只能通过血液传播或其他体液传播。The AIDS virus is only transmitted by blood and other body fluids.(3)人们经常指责他优柔寡断，但是这种指责并不公正。He has often, not always justly, be
30、en accused of indecisiveness.(3) 我想他两家也算是门当户对了，一说自然成。The two families being fairly well matched, I thought once the request was made, it was bound to be granted. All above are some suggested approaches for C-E translation of unmarked passive voiced sentences. This article is not intended to be compr
31、ehensive, that is, just a brief summing-up of my own translating experience. As a tip of the submerged iceberg of C-E passive translation, this article is aimed to be helpful and inspirational.Reference:1. Newmark,Peter. A Textbook of Translation. London: Prentice Hall International Ltd, 1987. 上海：上海外语教育出版社，20012. 连淑能英汉对比研究高等教育出版社，19933. 王云 硕士学位论文汉语被动句的语用探究，20064. 李利 浅谈英语中被动语句的翻译，201015