被动语态译法
This seems mostly effectively done by supporting a certain amount
of research not related to immediate goals but of possible
consequences in the future.
【结构分析】本句应先译by supporting…这个方式状语，再译主句This seems mostly effectively
done.
【参考译文】给某些与当前目标无关但在将来可能产生影响的科研以支持，看来通常能有效地解决这个问题。
New sources of energy must be found, and this will take time, but it
is not likely to result in any situation that will restore that
sense of cheap and plentiful energy we have had in the times past.
【结构分析】被动结构new sources of energy must be found 应译为主动。
【参考译文】我们必须要找到新地能源，但这需要时间；而过去我们感到地那种能源廉价而充足地情况，将不大可能再出现了。
The supply of oil can be shut off unexpectedly at any time, and in
any case, the oil wells will all run dry in thirty rears or so at
the present rate of use.
【结构分析】本句中地被动结构可以根据汉语的习惯直接以为被动句。
【参考译文】石油供应可能随时被切断；不管怎样，以目前这种消费速度，只需30年左右，所有的油井都会枯竭。
Over the years, tools and technology themselves as a source of
fundamental innovation have largely been ignored by historians and
philosophers of science.
【结构分析】本句中的被动语态也可以直接译成汉语的被动语态。
【参考译文】工具和技术本身作为根本性创新的源泉多年来在很大程度上被科学史学家和科学思想家们忽视了。
And it is imagined by many that the operations of the common mind
can be by no means compared with these processes, and that they have
to be acquired by a sort of special training.
【结构分析】这个句子有三个被动结构：…. is imagined…， …be compared…, …be
required…。第一个被动结构的后面有动作的发出者，这种被动有时只要把动作发出者提到前面就可以变成主动: it is
imagined by many that = many imagine that,
上海道正认为译起来也比较容易；"许多人认为…"，这属于被动改主动的第一种情况。第二种情况是汉语不需要做任何改动就能将被动译成主动，句中第二个被动结构就属于这种情况，be
compared with
可以直接译为："与…….相比较"，因为"与…被比较"在汉语里显然是错误的。第三种情况则需要对整个句子做很大的调整才能正确处理好：句中第三个被动结构后面虽然有介词by引导动作发出者，但简单地交换主语和宾语的位置显然行不通，根据上海道正学校教学与研究表明这种情况通常是由于词的使用造成的，如代词they到底指什么？动词required在句中究竟是什么意思？解决这些问题需要进一步了解英汉两种语言在用词上的差异。
【参考译文】许多人以为，普通人的思维活动根本无法和科学家的思维过程相比，他们还以为这些思维过程必须经过某种专门训练才能掌握。
译路通武汉汉口翻译公司整理
2012.6.2