However, judging from the overwhelming positive responses to her "non-coming-out", in the words of some reports - celebrities like Yao Chen congratulated her for her 17 years of partnership, for example - the Chinese public is moving towards growing rationality when it comes to other people's privacy. Most said they respect Li's choice and wish her well. Few said they wanted her to be the surviving spouse of Wang Xiaobo who must carry on his baton by hiding her own life and love interests.
李銀河公布并非同性戀這件事，得到的回應多數是積極的評論，比如明星姚晨表示對李銀河與其伴侶十七年的感情表示祝賀。在別人的私生活這方面，中國公眾正在逐漸變得理性。多數網友也表達尊重李銀河的選擇并祝他們幸福。僅有少數網友表達說只愿把她當做王小波的遺孀，她要繼承王小波的意志，隱藏自己的生活和愛的權利。

Like Apple CEO Tim Cook's well-wishers, Li's legion of celebrity supporters had a major role in pushing the boundary toward more tolerance and raising the awareness of the complexity of human sexuality. Not many may have their interest piqued and read Li's scholarly books, but the simple principle of respecting others for their differences is driven home by the flashing messages and headlines.
就像美國蘋果公司的首席執行官蒂姆·庫克（Tim Cook）的祝福者一樣，李銀河的許多明星支持者們也在很大程度上推動了社會寬容度的提升，同時加深對人類性行為的復雜性的認識。也有少數人對此感到頗有興趣并閱讀了李銀河的學術作品，但人們卻要在紛繁的信息和新聞頭條中才能明白尊重人與人之間的差異這一道理。

It was not easy to be Kinsey or Masters and Johnson in the US, and perhaps it is even harder to be Li Yinhe in China, a country with thousands of years of hush-hush tradition about sexuality. Open attitudes toward sexuality will instantly conjure up images of smut and licentiousness. It is difficult for many to distinguish a healthy openness and lewd behaviors.
在美國，作為金賽（Kinsey）或馬斯特斯（Masters）和約翰遜（Johnson）這樣的性學家是不容易的，在中國，像李銀河這樣的或許處境更為艱難。中國數千年的傳統里，性一直是禁忌話題。公開自己對性行為的態度會立刻使人聯想到污穢放蕩的畫面。對很多人而言，要區分健康的開放行為和猥褻的行為是很困難的。

Sex education
性教育

The importance of imparting sex knowledge to the whole society cannot be over-emphasized in this age of increasing social mobility with hundreds of millions working away from their hometowns and meeting more people in a week than their grandparents could meet in a lifetime. This is facilitated, or exacerbated, depending on your view, by the ubiquity of new gadgets and social media that technically allow any two people to hook up in cyberspace. To pretend we are still living in a puritanical village is not only out of touch with reality, but will have disastrous results.
在當前社會，人口快速流動，大量務工人員背井離鄉，他們在城市里一周所見的人比他們的祖父輩一輩子見過的都多，在這種特殊背景下，強調性知識的傳授是非常重要的。網絡對人們是便利的工具還是加劇這個社會問題嚴重性的根源，都取決于你看問題的角度。現在人們通過大量的科技產品和社交媒體，幾乎可以讓任何兩個人有認識約會的機會。現在若假裝我們還生活在一個極端封閉的村莊里，這不僅是不現實，而且還會帶來災難性的后果。

The absence of proper sex education is reflected in the risky behaviors that some youngsters reportedly engage in and end up losing their health or even their lives. Many youth-oriented hit movies portray unwanted pregnancies, attesting to the lack of protection among this demographic that should benefit the most from awareness campaigns and sex education. Otherwise, they are getting warped versions of the knowledge from online porn.
在媒體報道中，一些年輕人參加冒險行為，最后失去了自己的健康，更有甚者，失去寶貴的生命，這都反映了青少年性教育的缺失。許多青少年電影或多多少都有過意外懷孕的情節，這證明了我們的社會對人口缺乏保護，而這就更需要普及性教育和提高安全意識。否則，那些從網絡上看來的色情片只會扭曲人們對性知識的健康認識。

Sandwiched between tradition-ordained ignorance and over-sexed reality, Li Yinhe could be deemed mainstream to the point of old-fashioned. She says: "Sex is of course important, but more important is love."
夾在對性觀念漠視的傳統和性信息泛濫的現實中，李銀河其實更像是傳統觀念的中流砥柱。她說“性固然重要，但更重要的是愛?！?/p>

Her description of her second love in her life is so touching, readers take away the fact that two hearts join as one rather than the ambiguity of her partner's gender.
她對她的第二個生命摯愛的描述頗為令人動容，讀者們看到的是他們二人兩顆心相互聯結的事實，而不執著于他們伴侶的性別。

Li is a vanguard more in her candor than in her views and actions. In Chinese culture, there is a large space where one can do certain things as long as it is not mentioned. Even business management used to fall into this area. And now people like Li are dragging sex knowledge from this dense shadow into the sunlight.
李銀河的先鋒性不僅僅體現在她的觀點和行為上。在中國文化里，人們是可以做許多事情的，只要不聲張。即便是企業管理也無法避開這一點。如今像李銀河這樣的專家正將性知識從陰影中帶到陽光下。

A few months ago, a Chinese sexologist who was taking part in a forum was attacked by a grandma type who threw fecal matter at him. Li has probably received more virtual attack than anyone, and among those who sent her hate mail are those who adopt religious names like Paul and David, she says, "threatening me that I'd go to hell".
幾個月前，一位參加論壇的中國性學家被一個大媽潑糞了。李銀河在心理上承受的攻擊可能比其他人都多，在這些攻擊她的人中，那些使用宗教化名像Paul和David的，發了許多攻擊性的郵件。李銀河說：“他們威脅說我會下地獄”。

In a sense, what Li has been through in the past decade is worse than hell. But obviously she is not intimidated. One may not agree with her tactic or lack thereof, but her uncompromising attitude is partly responsible for the effectiveness of her message.
其實，李銀河在過去十年里遭遇的可能比地獄的情況還要糟糕。但顯然她并不害怕。你可能不同意她的觀點，但她不妥協的態度至少可以作為她所說內容的佐證。

（作者：周黎明 中國日報網英語點津 許晶晶 編輯）