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d to measure your use of passive verbs. One or two passive verbs a page will not ruin your style, nine or ten will[2])”就像Menze,l Jones, and Boyd (1961)指出的:“被动语态增加了犯语法错误的可能性,其带来长串的介词短语,使语言累赘迂回,而且其鼓励内容含混不清。”[3](P131-135)下面的例子对科技英语中主动语态和被动语态的用法进行了比较:
例3:[4]
1、I procured a triangular glass prism, to try therewith the celebrated phenomena of colors. And for that purpose, having darkened my laboratory, And made a small hole in my window shade, to let in a convenient quantity of the suns' light, I placed my prism at the entrance, that the light might be thereby refracted to the opposite wall. It was at first a very pleasing diversion to view the vivid and intense colors produced thereby.
2、For the purpose of investigating the celebrated phenomena of chromatic refrangibility, a triangular glass prism was procured.After darkening the laboratory and making a small aperture in an otherwise Opaque window covering in order to ensure that the optimum quantity of visible electromagnetic radiation (VER) would be admitted from solar sources, the prism was placed in front of the aperture for the purpose of reflecting the VER to the wall on the opposite side of the room. It was found initially that due to the vivid and intense colors which were produced by this experimental apparatus, the overall effect was aesthetically satisfactory when viewed by the eye.
上面例子中2是一段复杂的实验描述,共三个句子但都是长句(最长的有60个单词),句中含有悬垂结构(前两句下划线部分)及被动语态。这种风格并不比上面1更客观,但却因其复杂的句子结构和大量的单词使读者糊涂。尽管版本1写于几百年前,但是描述非常清楚,有较强的可读性。而版本2迂腐矫饰的文体特征不仅表现在选词上,而且表现刻意的使用被动语态上,因此“被动语态令读者难懂,是假谦虚的强调”。[5]
四、句子结构
为达到简洁明了的文体效果,科技英语和商务英语写作中最好使用较短的句子,其中信息组合要求逻辑性强,以上例1、2、3都表明这点。“长句让任何文件都很难读。在科技写作中,保持平均句子长度为10到20个单词。如果你是在写说明书,句子长度甚至可以控制在10或11个单词。但是如果你的句子长度在10个单词以下,那你就有可能过度使用这个技巧了。”[5]
例4 (商务信函写作的七个C)
1、I refer to my letterof13th June and am writing to advise you that if we do not receive your completed application form within the next fourteen days, I shall have no alternative but to arrange property insurance on the bank’s block policy. (One Sentence-45 words)
2、I have not yet received your reply to my letter of13th June. If we do not receive your completed application form within fourteen days, I shall have to arrange property insurance on the bank’s block policy. (Two sentences-13 words and 24 words)
上面2和1都是告知顾客应采取相应的行动,但2在语言上更严肃有力,没有任何多余的单词。同时2中的两句话更明白好懂。相反1中的句子就显