Some English teachers actively encourage their students to depend on active voice, while others allow their students to depend on passive voice. What’s the difference, and why is the difference important?

　　一些英语教师积极鼓励学生使用主动语态，而另一些教师则允许学生使用被动语态。主动语态和被动语态的区别是什么？这些区别为什么如此重要？

　　Active voice appears in sentences such as, “The detective discovered that the manager was a thief.” Passive voice appears in sentences such as, “It was discovered that the manager was a thief.”

　　使用主动语态的句 子例如“The detective discovered that the manager was a thief.”（侦探发现经理是小偷），而使用被动语态的句子则是“It was discovered that the manager was a thief.”（经理被发现是小偷）。

　　Why would someone use passive voice in a sentence like that? Because they want to call the manager a thief, but are afraid to say why!

　　为什么有人会在这种句子里使用被动语态？因为他们想说经理是小偷，但是害怕说出原因！

　　Passive voice is common in scientific papers, because it lets the writers avoid using the words I or we, to avoid saying where their ideas came from. That’s why some teachers think that passive voice sounds more educated. Usually, though, it’s simply less definite. It might (or might not) fool your teacher, but in the real world, when they have something to say, even scientists don’t have the luxury of not being definite.

　　被动语态在科学论文中很常见，因为它可以让作者避免使用 I、me等词来表明的想法的出处。这就是为什么有些教师认为被动语态听起来更文雅。尽管如此，使用被动语态的句子往往含义更不明确。它也许可以（也许不 能）从你的老师那里蒙混过关，但是走向社会后，当人们想说点什么时，就算科学家们也没有含糊不清的权 利。

　　In business writing, sentences make the most sense when the subject comes first, followed by what the subject is doing. So make sure passive writing is not reducing the efficiency of your words.

　　在商业写作中，主语开头，后面接主语的动作，这样的句子最合乎常理。因此，千万别让被动语态削弱文章的效果。