英语中有一个既能表述“刮风”又能阐明“打”的词语即 sweep。

1. sweep…一n. 打扫/扫除/ (风的)刮吹/扫荡/ 扫射/肃清/清除……

                                                  ——《英华大词典》

“黄”即“porn (ography)”，与“卖淫”（prostitution）似有五十步与百步之差，而两者之社会实质无异，故下列实例中“扫淫”之英语表达，拿过来稍加改造，以供翻译“扫黄 ”之用。请看：

2. Similarly，“COPS”employs no narrator, no story and no script. And in the last series, “COPS” followed the lives of key police officers in Broward County, Florida, from morning to night, documenting crack house raids, airport narcotics smuggling, armed robbery, child—beating, drug dealer arrests and prostitution sweeps.

                                                                              一True Detective, July 1990, p.18

如此说来，“扫黄”不妨译作“porn(ography) sweeps”了。

此外，下列引文中的“pornography campaign” (意即“anti-pornography campaign”)也是“扫黄”的自然英语译名：

3. A legal member of local Evangelical church, he believes that his pornography campaign....

                                              一《词语翻译丛谈》, p.207

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