The practice of examining books, films, news, letters or online posts and removing or blocking the parts that someone in power does not want people to see. It covers both the act and the whole system: a government department, a set of rules, an unwritten habit of silence.

The practice of examining books, films, news, letters or online posts檢查書籍、電影、新聞、信件或網路貼文，and removing or blocking the parts並移除或封鎖其中的部分內容 that someone in power does not want people to see那些掌權者不想讓人看到的部分。 It它 covers both the act and the whole system包含這個行為本身，也包含整套系統：a government department一個政府部門，a set of rules一套規則，an unwritten habit of silence一種不成文的沉默習慣。

Two things are worth noticing. First, English speakers stretch the word — a company deleting complaints from its own page gets called censorship by angry customers, even though no government is involved, and people argue about whether that counts. Second, it is not always about politics: film ratings, cutting swear words out of TV, a parent deciding what a child may read — all get called censorship, sometimes seriously and sometimes as a joke.

Two things are worth noticing有兩件事值得注意。 First首先，English speakers stretch the word英文使用者會把這個字用得比較寬鬆 — a company deleting complaints from its own page一家公司刪掉自己頁面上的客訴 gets called censorship by angry customers就會被生氣的顧客說是 censorship，even though no government is involved即使根本沒有政府介入，and people argue about whether that counts而且人們會爭論這算不算數。 Second其次，it is not always about politics這不一定跟政治有關：film ratings電影分級，cutting swear words out of TV把電視裡的髒話剪掉，a parent deciding what a child may read家長決定小孩可以讀什麼 — all get called censorship全部都會被稱作 censorship，sometimes seriously and sometimes as a joke有時候是認真的，有時候只是開玩笑。

The word is nearly always used by the person who objects; the people doing it prefer words like "guidance", "review", or "protecting the public". A related idea is self-censorship, when nobody stops you but you stop yourself because you know what would happen.

The word這個字 is nearly always used by the person who objects幾乎都是反對的人在用；the people doing it而做這件事的人 prefer words like 'guidance', 'review', or 'protecting the public'比較喜歡用「指導」、「審核」或「保護大眾」這類說法。 A related idea一個相關的概念 is是 self-censorshipself-censorship（自我審查），when nobody stops you but you stop yourself就是沒有人阻止你，但你自己停下來 because you know what would happen因為你知道後果會是什麼。