However, my overwhelming feelings about the press are ones of gratitude. In the long unfolding of the so-called Rushdie Affair, American newspapers have been of great importance in keeping the issues alive, in making sure that readers have kept sight of the essential points of principle involved, and even in pressuring America's leaders to speak out and act. But I am grateful for more than that. I said earlier that newspaper editors, like novelists, need to create, impart and maintain a vision of society to readers. In any vision of a free society, the value of free speech must rank the highest, for that is the freedom without which all other freedoms would fail. Journalists do more than most of us to protect those values; for the exercise of freedom is its best defense.
然而，我却对媒体抱有势不可挡的感激之情。在所谓的拉什迪事件那漫长的演变进程中，美国的报纸在某些方面一直起着极其重要的作用。他们使得这一事件一直为人所关注，并且确保了读者始终清楚事件的基本情况，甚至还迫使美国领导人对此事发表看法并采取行动。但是我还要对更多方面致以谢意。我之前提到过，和小说家一样报纸的编辑就是要创造、给予并保有一个对社会的看法与读者分享。在任何对于自由社会的看法中，言论自由的价值一定是最髙的，因为没有了这一自由，其他所有的自由都无法实现。新闻工作者在保护这些价值方面比我们大多数人做得更多；因为运用自由就是捍卫它的最佳方式。
It seems to me, however, that we live in an increasingly censorious age. By this I mean that the broad, indeed international, acceptance of First Amendment principles is being steadily eroded. Many special-interest groups, claiming the moral high ground, now demand the protection of the censor. Political correctness and the rise of the religious right provide the pro-censorship lobby with further cohorts. I would like to say a little about just one of the weapons of this resurgent lobby, a weapon used, interestingly, by everyone from anti-pornography feminists to religious fundamentalists: I mean the concept of “respect."
不过在我看来，我们似乎生活在一个日益挑剔的时代。我的意思是说，对美国宪法第一修正案广泛而又真正国际化的认同正受到一点一点地侵蚀。许多声称占据了道德髙地的特殊利益集团如今要求得到审查员的保护。政治上的正确性以及基督教右派势力的崛起为支持新闻审査的游说者带来了更多志同道合之人。我想仅仅谈一下这个再次兴起的群体所使用的众多武器中的一种，有趣的是从反对色情文学的女权主义者到宗教原教旨主义者所有人都在使用这个武器：我是指“尊重”这个概念。
On the surface of it, "respect" is one of those ideas nobody is against. Like a good warm coat in winter, like applause, like ketchup on your fries, everybody wants some of that. But what was used to mean by respect—that is, a mixture of good-hearted consideration and serious attention—has little to do with the new ideological usage of the word.
从表面看来，“尊重”是无人反对的概念之一。就像一件冬日里质地优良的保暖外衣，就像掌声，就像炸薯条上的番茄酱，人人都想分享一点儿。但是“尊重”一词过去常常所包含的意思——一种善意的谅解与严肃的关注的综合体——已经同这个词汇所具有的意识形态上的新用法没有多少关系了。
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