為什麼要少用被動語態？

之前有同學的作文中寫過這樣一個開頭段：

Rules are essential for young people because teens shouldbe toldto obey basic instructions. By doing this, theyare protectedfrom mistakesmade byprevious people. However, young people noware overwhelmedwith rulesset bythe society.

下劃線部分都是最明顯的被動使用。當問到部分同學為什麼這麼喜歡使用被動的時候，基本有以下幾個原因：

湊字數

顯得正式

有強調的感覺

被動當然有合理的功能，但是當一篇文章到處都充斥著被動的時候，就有問題了。讀著就是一個別捏的句子，比如：

You have not been laughed at by us.

就不能好好說話嗎：

We have not laughted at you.

GIF

OG（托福官方指南）說

Because passive sentences are usually longer and harder to read, using too many passive sentences can make your writing slow and uninteresting. Many experts think that passive sentences should make up only about 5 percent of your writing.Active sentences, on the other hand, generally are cleaer, are more direct, and seem stronger.

簡單來說，就是被動又長又難讀，在簡潔度上會被扣分。被動只能占整篇文章的5%。

在咱們英文寫作的聖經書The Elements of Style中，作者也提到：

The active voice is usually more direct and vigorous than the passive.

所以，盡量不使用被動。

當然，有以下幾種例外情況：

例外情況

GIF

1. When the action is more important than the doer

當動作比發出者更重要的時候

1) The theater was opened last month.

2) New students are invited to meet the dean in the Room 226.

2. When the receiveer of the action is more important than the doer

當動作的承受者比發出者更重要的時候

1) Everyone was given a key to the gym.

2) The letters were faxed this morning.

3. When the result of the action is more important than the doer

當動作的結果比發出者更重要的時候

1) Our advice was followed by our clients.

2) The new computers were installed by the systems staff.

4. When you do not know who did an action, do not care, or do not want your reader to know

當不知道、不在意或者不想讓讀者知道動作的發出者的時候

1) A mistake was made, and all the scholarship application files were lost

2) This report was written at the last minute

5. When you want to sound object

當想要聽起來比較客觀的時候

1) The pigeons were observed over a period of three weeks.

2) The subjects were divided into three groups.

最後的最後，就算不記得什麼時候適合用被動，只要記得：

Use them only when they help you to emphasize something important.

只在有需要強調的成分時才使用被動。

萬不得已不要用被動語態。

最後，和大家一同欣賞The Unbearable Lightness of Being(《生命不可承受之輕》)裡面的一個漂亮的段落。你能找到這裡的被動嗎？

Noise has one advantage. It drowns out words. And suddenly he realized that all his life he had done nothing but talk, write, lecture, concoct sentences, search for formulations and amend them, so in the end no words were precise, their meanings were obliterated, their content lost, they turned into trash, chaff dust, sand; prowling through his brain, tearing at his head. they were his insomnia, his illness. And what he yearned for at that moment, vaguely, but with all his might, was unbounded music, absolute sound, a pleasant and happy all-encompassing, over-poering, window-rattling din to engulf, once and for all, the pain, the futility, the vanity of words. Music was the negation of sentences, music was the anti-word!

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