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名人教英文 – 不要太被動

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17/11/2009

名人教英文 – 不要太被動 吳靄儀

 

大家都知道，英文有active voice（主動式）和passive voice（被動式）。Albert is cleaning the car 是active voice，The car is beingcleaned by Albert 就是passive voice。什麼時候用active voice，什麼時候用passive voice 呢？ 我們想知道Albert 在做什麼， 就會說Albert is cleaning the car，但如果我們的關注點是在那部車子，就會說The car is being cleaned by Albert。

試看另一個例子：People in Brazil speak Portuguese 和Portuguese isspoken in Brazil。第一句的着眼點是指出巴西人說的語言，而第二句亦有這個意思，但值得注意的是不用說Portuguese is spoken in Brazil bypeople，因為這是不言而喻的了。再說一個例：My watch was stolenthis morning（我的手表今早被人偷了），我關心的是我的失表事件，但你仍然可以用active voice說Someone stole my watch this morning。

舉另一個例子： Professor Charles Kao was awarded the NobelPrize in Physics（高錕教授榮獲諾貝爾物理學獎）是passive voice；亦可以說：They awarded Professor Charles Kao the Nobel Prize inPhysics——active voice。再舉個例： The prime minister offeredhim a post in the cabinet——active voice， 倒過來說： He wasoffered a post in the cabinet，是passive voice。值得注意的是，當你將句子變成被動式，就省略了不提誰邀請他入內閣。

問題是，愈來愈多人濫用被動式。香港很多不堪入目的「港式中文」源頭正是硬譯被動式英文。如：He was appointed a member ofthe committee，英文沒問題，中文就變為「他被委任為委員會成員」， 「被委任」這三個字實在大有問題。另一個例子：The publicshould be consulted，官式翻譯是「公眾應被諮詢」，但這根本不是中文。如果我們改用active voice：The government should consultthe public， 「政府應該諮詢市民」，不是通順得多嗎？

濫用被動式，另一個原因是官樣文章橫行。最著名的例子是「汝曾被警告」。較近代的說法是Notice is hereby given…如果改用activevoice：We hereby notify you…，就不會有此下場。

Payment should be made on the 1st of every month，究竟應由誰付款？You should pay on the 1st of every month，清清楚楚，你就是那個要付款的人。Reform should be carried out…是誰去改革呢？如果改以active voice：The government should carry out reforms…，責任誰屬就清楚得多了。濫用被動式不但導致拙劣不堪的中文，而且助長不負責任的心態。

多媒體教室

網上收聽：english.mingpao.com/mp3_11.htm

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