摘要：

【目的】 比较国内外科技期刊英文摘要语态使用差异,分析国内方面存在的不足及其成因,并提出改进思路,以助益中文科技期刊提高英文摘要编写质量、提升国际传播效果。【方法】 选取34种中外权威科技期刊,从每种期刊中抽取2022年第1期前10篇研究性论文的英文摘要形成小型语料库,统计分析其语态使用情况。【结果】 国内、国外期刊的语态使用表现截然相反:国内期刊总体上偏好被动语态,国外期刊则倾向于主动语态;两者在主动句/被动句数量比值以及主、被动句在总句数中的占比方面差距悬殊。【结论】 国内中文科技期刊英文摘要编写未跟上国际文体变化新趋势,存在过度使用被动语态问题,相关标准和要求落后、翻译思维惯性顽固、写作教材观念过时是其重要成因。建议根据语步功能,合理使用主被动语态。

关键词: 中文科技期刊, 英文摘要, 语态, 语料库

Abstract:

[Purposes] This paper aims to find out the differences of voice use in English abstract written by domestic scholars and their foreign counterparts, analyze domestic deficiencies and the causes, and provide suggestions, which is expected to improve the quality of English abstracts and enhance the communication of Chinese scientific journals. [Methods] We selected 34 leading scientific journals, from each of which we chose 10 English abstracts of research articles in the first issue in 2022. Then we established a corpus for the English abstracts and analyzed the voice use. [Findings] We find quite different features in the voice use on the part of domestic and foreign journals. Domestic journals generally prefer passive voice, while foreign journals tend to use active voice. The ratio of the number of active sentences to the number of passive sentences and the proportions of active sentences and passive sentences in the total number of sentences show great difference between the English abstracts of domestic and foreign journals. [Conclusions] The compilation of English abstracts from domestic Chinese scientific journals fails to keep up with the international trend, which is characterized by the overuse of passive voice. The phenomenon is attributed to the outdated writing standards or author guidelines, direct translation of Chinese sentence patterns, and misleading textbooks. We propose a reasonable use of active and passive voice according to the function of move structure.

Key words: Chinese scientific journal, English abstract, Voice, Corpus