考研翻译中被动语态的真题举例：

The behavioral sciences have been slow to change partly because the explanatory items often seem to be directly observed and partly because other kinds of explanations have been hard to find .（2002，62）

But his primary task is not to think about the moral code , which governs his activity , any more than a businessman is expected to dedicate his energies to an exploration of rules of conduct in business .（2006，49）

以上两个真题例句中分别包含了被动语态be directly observed和is expected。由于被动语态是考研英语翻译的重要考点之一，如果不做任何处理，直接简单翻译成“被”字句，不但有可能会导致译文不通顺，而且还会有扣分的危险，如果将例句的be directly observed和is expected直接翻译成“......（可以）直接被观察到”“（商人）被期待......” 则不太符合汉语表达习惯。因此，掌握必要的英文被动语态翻译方法是必要的。