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In Chinese, a sentence with “被” can express the passive sentence voice, its normal structure is “Subject + 被 + O + V + Other Elements”, in which the subject is the patient of the action and the object the agent.
There are other two “被” structures for advanced learners:
This structure is still used to indicate passive voice. “所” is an auxiliary word after which is followed by a verb. The verb which is used after “所” cannot be used with other elements.
e.g.
我们都被眼前的美景所吸引。(Wǒmen dōu bèi yǎnqián dì měijǐng suǒ xīyǐn.) We were all captivated by the beauty in front of us.
他被好奇心（所）驱使，鼓起勇气决定下到洞底一探究竟。（Tā bèi hàoqí xīn (suǒ) qūshǐ, gǔ qǐ yǒngqì juédìng xià dào dòng dǐ yī tàn jiùjìng.）Driven by curiosity, he summoned the courage to go down to the bottom of the cave to find out.
Note: “所” can be omitted before disyllabic verbs, but it cannot be omitted before monosyllabic verbs which contain strong literature color.
整支队伍被风雪所阻。(Zhěng zhī duìwǔ bèi fēng xuě suǒ zǔ.) The entire team was blocked by the wind and snow.
年轻男女总是被情所困。(Niánqīng nánnǚ zǒng shì bèi qíng suǒ kùn.) Young men and women are always trapped in love.
This structure also is used to indicate passive voice. “为” implies passive meaning which is usually used in ancient Chinese. And this structure usually is used in written form.
e.g.
别叹气，成年人总是会为生活所累。(Bié tànqì, chéngnián rén zǒng shì huì wéi shēnghuó suǒ lèi.) Don’t sigh, adults are always tired of life.
你总是那么容易相信人，时常为表面现象所蒙蔽。(Nǐ zǒng shì nàme róngyì xiāngxìn rén, shícháng wèi biǎomiàn xiànxiàng suǒ méngbì.) You are always so easy to trust people and are often deceived by appearances.
“改革开放”政策的正确性已为实践所证明。(“Gǎigé kāifàng” zhèngcè de zhèngquè xìng yǐ wèi shíjiàn suǒ zhèngmíng.) The correctness of the “reform and opening up” policy has been proved by practice.
Note that“为” and “被” are interchangeable here, and the meaning won’t change.
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