Episodit
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 18】The little prince crossed the desert and met with only one flower. It was a flower with three petals, a flower of no account at all.
小王子穿过沙漠。他只见过一朵花，一个有着三枚花瓣的花朵，一朵很不起 眼的小花……
"Good morning," said the little prince.
“你好。”小王子说。
"Good morning," said the flower.
“你好。”花说。
"Where are the men?" the little prince asked, politely.
“人在什么地方？”小王子有礼貌地问道。
The flower had once seen a caravan passing.
有一天，花曾看见一支骆驼商队走过：
"Men?" she echoed. "I think there are six or seven of them in existence. I saw them, several years ago. But one never knows where to find them. The wind blows them away. They have no roots, and that makes their life very difficult."
“人吗？我想大约有六七个人，几年前，我瞅见过他们。可是，从来不知道 到什么地方去找他们。风吹着他们到处跑。他们没有根，这对他们来说是很不方 便的。”
"Goodbye," said the little prince.
“再见了。”小王子说。
"Goodbye," said the flower.
“再见。”花说。
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 19】After that, the little prince climbed a high mountain. The only mountains he had ever known were the three volcanoes, which came up to his knees. And he used the extinct volcano as a footstool. "From a mountain as high as this one," he said to himself, "I shall be able to see the whole planet at one glance, and all the people…"But he saw nothing, save peaks of rock that were sharpened like needles.
小王子爬上一座高山。过去他所见过的山就是那三座只有他膝盖那么高的火 山，并且他把那座熄灭了的火山就当作凳子。小王子自言自语地说道：“从这么 高的山上，我一眼可以看到整个星球，以及所有的人。”可是，他所看到的只是 一些非常锋利的悬崖峭壁。
"Good morning," he said courteously.
“你好。”小王子试探地问道。
"Good morning--Good morning--Good morning," answered the echo.
“你好……你好……你好……”回音在回答道。
"Who are you?" said the little prince.
“你们是什么人？”小王子问。
"Who are you--Who are you--Who are you?" answered the echo.
“你们是什么人……你们是什么人……你们是什么人……”回音又回答道。
"Be my friends. I am all alone," he said.
“请你们做我的朋友吧，我很孤独。”他说。
"I am all alone--all alone--all alone," answered the echo.
“我很孤独……我很孤独……我很孤独……”回音又回答着。
"What a queer planet!" he thought. "It is altogether dry, and altogether pointed, and altogether harsh and forbidding. And the people have no imagination. They repeat whatever one says to them… On my planet I had a flower; she always was the first to speak…"
小王子想道：“这颗行星真奇怪！它上面全是干巴巴的，而且又尖利又咸涩， 人们一点想象力都没有。他们只是重复别人对他们说的话……在我的家乡，我有一 朵花。她总是自己先说话……”
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Puuttuva jakso?
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 20】
But it happened that after walking for a long time through sand, and rocks, and snow, the little prince at last came upon a road. And all roads lead to the abodes of men.
在沙漠、岩石、雪地上行走了很长的时间以后，小王子终于发现了一条大路。 所有的大路都是通往人住的地方的。
"Good morning," he said.
“你们好。”小王子说。
He was standing before a garden, all a-bloom with roses.
这是一个玫瑰盛开的花园。
"Good morning," said the roses
“你好。”玫瑰花说道。
The little prince gazed at them. They all looked like his flower.
小王子瞅着这些花，它们全都和他的那朵花一样。
"Who are you?" he demanded, thunderstruck.
“你们是什么花？”小王子惊奇地问。
"We are roses," the roses said.
“我们是玫瑰花。”花儿们说道。
And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike, in one single garden!
“啊！”小王子说……。他感到自己非常不幸。他的那朵花曾对他说她是整个宇宙中独一无二的一种 花。可是，仅在这一座花园里就有五千朵完全一样的这种花朵！
"She would be very much annoyed," he said to himself, "if she should see that… she would cough most dreadfully, and she would pretend that she was dying, to avoid being laughed at. And I should be obliged to pretend that I was nursing her back to life-- for if I did not do that, to humble myself also, she would really allow herself to die…"
小王子自言自语地说：“如果她看到这些，她是一定会很恼火……她会咳嗽得 更厉害，并且为避免让人耻笑，她会佯装死去。那么，我还得装着去护理她，因 为如果不这样的话，她为了使我难堪，她可能会真的死去……”
Then he went on with his reflections: "I thought that I was rich, with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose, and three volcanoes that come up to my knees-- and one of them perhaps extinct forever… that doesn't make me a very great prince…"
接着他又说道：“我还以为我有一朵独一无二的花呢，我有的仅是一朵普通 的花。这朵花，再加上三座只有我膝盖那么高的火山，而且其中一座还可能是永 远熄灭了的，这一切不会使我成为一个了不起的王子……”
And he lay down in the grass and cried.
于是，他躺在草丛中哭 泣起来。
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 21】
- the little prince befriends the fox
It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to look at."
"I am a fox," said the fox.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.
But, after some thought, he added:
"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means to establish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a flower... I think that she has tamed me..."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious.
"On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.
But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not ea t bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me bac k the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat..."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time.
"Please-- tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me..."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But yo u will sit a little closer to me, every day..."
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the proper rites..."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of the wheat fields." And then he added:
"Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, and I will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique in all the world."
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince, so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 22】
"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the railway switchman.
"What do you do here?" the little prince asked.
"I sort out travelers, in bundles of a thousand," said the switchman. "I send off the trains that carry them; now to the right, now to the left."
And a brilliantly lighted express train shook the switchman's cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder.
"They are in a great hurry," said the little prince. "What are they looking for?"
"Not even the locomotive engineer knows that," said the switchman.
And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by, in the opposite direction.
"Are they coming back already?" demanded the little prince.
"These are not the same ones," said the switchman. "It is an exchange."
"Were they not satisfied where they were?" asked the little prince.
"No one is ever satisfied where he is," said the switchman.
And they heard the roaring thunder of a third brilliantly lighted express.
"Are they pursuing the first travelers?" demanded the little prince.
"They are pursuing nothing at all," said the switchman. "They are asleep in there, or if they are not asleep they are yawning. Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes."
"Only the children know what they are looking for," said the little prince. "They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry..."
"They are lucky," the switchman said.
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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[ Chapter 23 ]- the little prince encounters a merchant
"Good morning," said the little prince.
"Good morning," said the merchant.
This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything to drink.
"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.
"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week."
"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"
"Anything you like..."
"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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[ Chapter 24 ]- the narrator and the little prince, thirsty, hunt for a well in the desert
It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply.
"Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!"
"My friend the fox--" the little prince said to me.
"My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!"
"Why not?"
"Because I am about to die of thirst..."
He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me:
"It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend..."
"He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..."
But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought:
"I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..."
I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.
When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:
"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded.
But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:
"Water may also be good for the heart..."
I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.
He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again:
"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen."
I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.
"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.
And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...
"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."
I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart...
"Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert-- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"
"I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox."
As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible..."
As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: "What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind...
And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak.
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[ Chapter 25 ]
- finding a well, the narrator and the little prince discuss his return to his planet
"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble..."
The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming...
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope..."
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing..."
I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.
"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."
I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.
"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."
And I understood what he had been looking for.
I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.
"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are looking for."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."
"Yes, that is true," I said.
And the little prince added:
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."
I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief?
"You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more.
"What promise?"
"You know-- a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower..."
I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said:
"Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages."
"Oh!"
I had been so proud of my baobabs!
"Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long."
And he laughed again.
"You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."
"Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand."
So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.
"You have plans that I do not know about," I said.
But he did not answer me. He said to me, instead:
"You know-- my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary."
Then, after a silence, he went on:
"I came down very near here."
And he flushed.
And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:
"Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?"
The little prince flushed again.
And I added, with some hesitancy:
"Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?"
The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?
"Ah," I said to him, "I am a little frightened--"
But he interrupted me.
"Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening..."
But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed...
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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[ Chapter 26 ]
- the little prince converses with the snake; the little prince consoles the narrator; the little prince returns to his planet
Beside the well there was the ruin of an old stone wall. When I came back from my work, the next evening, I saw from some distance away my little price sitting on top of a wall, with his feet dangling. And I heard him say:
"Then you don't remember. This is not the exact spot."
Another voice must have answered him, for he replied to it:
"Yes, yes! It is the right day, but this is not the place."
I continued my walk toward the wall. At no time did I see or hear anyone. The little prince, however, replied once again:
"--Exactly. You will see where my track begins, in the sand. You have nothing to do but wait for me there. I shall be there tonight."
I was only twenty metres from the wall, and I still saw nothing.
After a silence the little prince spoke again:
"You have good poison? You are sure that it will not make me suffer too long?"
I stopped in my tracks, my heart torn asunder; but still I did not understand.
"Now go away," said the little prince. "I want to get down from the wall."
I dropped my eyes, then, to the foot of the wall-- and I leaped into the air. There before me, facing the little prince, was one of those yellow snakes that take just thirty seconds to bring your life to an end. Even as I was digging into my pocked to get out my revolver I made a running step back. But, at the noise I made, the snake let himself flow easily across the sand like the dying spray of a fountain, and, in no apparent hurry, disappeared, with a light metallic sound, among the stones.
I reached the wall just in time to catch my little man in my arms; his face was white as snow.
"What does this mean?" I demanded. "Why are you talking with snake?"
I had loosened the golden muffler that he always wore. I had moistened his temples, and had given him some water to drink. And now I did not dare ask him any more questions. He looked at me very gravely, and put his arms around my neck. I felt his heart beating like the heart of a dying bird, shot with someone's rifle...
"I am glad that you have found what was the matter with your engine," he said. "Now you can go back home--"
"How do you know about that?"
I was just coming to tell him that my work had been successful, beyond anything that I had dared to hope.
He made no answer to my question, but he added:
"I, too, am going back home today..."
Then, sadly--
"It is much farther... it is much more difficult..."
I realised clearly that something extraordinary was happening. I was holding him close in my arms as if he were a little child; and yet it seemed to me that he was rushing headlong toward an abyss from which I could do nothing to restrain him...
His look was very serious, like some one lost far away.
"I have your sheep. And I have the sheep's box. And I have the muzzle..."
And he gave me a sad smile.
I waited a long time. I could see that he was reviving little by little.
"Dear little man," I said to him, "you are afraid..."
He was afraid, there was no doubt about that. But he laughed lightly.
"I shall be much more afraid this evening..."
Once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable. And I knew that I could not bear the thought of never hearing that laughter any more. For me, it was like a spring of fresh water in the desert.
"Little man," I said, "I want to hear you laugh again."
But he said to me:
"Tonight, it will be a year... my star, then, can be found right above the place where I came to the Earth, a year ago..."
"Little man," I said, "tell me that it is only a bad dream-- this affair of the snake, and the meeting-place, and the star..."
But he did not answer my plea. He said to me, instead: "The thing that is important is the thing that is not seen..."
"Yes, I know..."
"It is just as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers..."
"Yes, I know..."
"It is just as it is with the water. Because of the pulley, and the rope, what you gave me to drink was like music. You remember-- how good it was."
"Yes, I know..."
"And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends. And, besides, I am going to make you a present..."
He laughed again.
"Ah, little prince, dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!"
"That is my present. Just that. It will be as it was when we drank the water..."
"What are you trying to say?"
"All men have the stars," he answered, "but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems . For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. You-- you alone-- will have the stars as no one else has them--"
"What are you trying to say?"
"In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night... you-- only you-- will have stars that can laugh!"
And he laughed again.
"And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure... and your friends w ill be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them, 'Yes, the stars always make me laugh!' And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby trick that I shall have played on you..."
And he laughed again.
"It will be as if, in place of the star, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh..."
And he laughed again. Then he quickly became serious:
"Tonight-- you know... do not come," said the little prince.
"I shall not leave you," I said.
"I shall look as if I were suffering. I shall look a little as if I were dying. It is like that. Do not come to see that. It is not worth the trouble..."
"I shall not leave you."
But he was worried.
"I tell you-- it is also because of the snake. He must not bite you. Snakes-- they are malicious creatures. This one might bite you just for fun..."
"I shall not leave you."
But a thought came to reassure him:
"It is true that they have no more poison for a second bite."
That night I did not see him set out on his way. He got away from me without making a sound. When I succeeded in catching up with him he was walking along with a quick and resolute step. He said to me merely:
"Ah! You are there..."
And he took me by the hand. But he was still worrying.
"It was wrong of you to come. You will suffer. I shall look as if I were dead; and that will not be true..."
I said nothing.
"You understand... it is too far. I cannot carry this body with me. It is too heavy."
I said nothing.
"But it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about old shells..."
I said nothing.
He was a little discouraged. But he made one more effort:
"You know, it will be very nice. I, too, shall look at the stars. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley. All the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink..."
I said nothing.
"That will be so amusing! You will have five hundred million little bells, and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water..."
And he too said nothing more, becuase he was crying...
"Here it is. Let me go on by myself."
And he sat down, because he was afraid. Then he said, again:
"You know-- my flower... I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She is so na飗e! She has four thorns, of no use at all, to protect herself against all the world..."
I too sat down, because I was not able to stand up any longer.
"There now-- that is all..."
He still hesitated a little; then he got up. He took one step. I could not move.
There was nothing but a flash of yellow close to his ankle. He remained motionless for an instant. He did not cry out. He fell as gently as a tree falls. There was not even any sound, because of the sand.
-
聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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[ Chapter 27 ]
- the narrator's afterthoughts
And now six years have already gone by...
I have never yet told this story. The companions who met me on my return were well content to see me alive. I was sad, but I told them: "I am tired."
Now my sorrow is comforted a little. That is to say-- not entirely. But I know that he did go back to his planet, because I did not find his body at daybreak. It was not such a heavy body... and at night I love to listen to the stars. It is like five hundred million little bells...
But there is one extraordinary thing... when I drew the muzzle for the little prince, I forgot to add the leather strap to it. He will never have been able to fasten it on his sheep. So now I keep wondering: what is happening on his planet? Perhaps the sheep has eaten the flower...
At one time I say to myself: "Surely not! The little prince shuts his flower under her glass globe every night, and he watches over his sheep very carefully..." Then I am happy. And there is sweetness in the laughter of all the stars.
But at another time I say to myself: "At some moment or other one is absent-minded, and that is enough! On some one evening he forgot the glass globe, or the sheep got out, without making any noise, in the night..." And then the little bells are changed to tears...
Here, then, is a great mystery. For you who also love the little prince, and for me, nothing in the universe can be the same if somewhere, we do not know where, a sheep that we never saw has-- yes or no?-- eaten a rose...
Look up at the sky. Ask yourselves: is it yes or no? Has the sheep eaten the flower? And you will see how everything changes...
And no grown-up will ever understand that this is a matter of so much importance!
This is, to me, the loveliest and saddest landscape in the world. It is the same as that on the preceding page, but I have drawn it again to impress it on your memory. It is here that the little prince appeared on Earth, and disappeared.
Look at it carefully so that you will be sure to recognise it in case you travel some day to the African desert. And, if you should come upon this spot, please do not hurry on. Wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions, you will know who he is. If this should happen, please comfort me. Send me word that he has come back.
---End of the Book---聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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-
聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 10】
He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge.
在附近的宇宙中，还有 325、326、327、328、329、330 等几颗小行星。他 就开始访问这几颗星球，想在那里找点事干，并且学习学习。
The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.
第一颗星球上住着一个国王。国王穿着用紫红色和白底黑花的毛皮做成的大 礼服，坐在一个很简单却又十分威严的宝座上。
"Ah! Here is a subject," exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming.
当他看见小王子时，喊了起来：
And the little prince asked himself:
“啊，来了一个臣民。”
"How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?"
小王子思量着：“他从来也没有见过我，怎么会认识我呢？”
He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects.
他哪里知道，在那些国王的眼里，世界是非常简单的：所有的人都是臣民。
"Approach, so that I may see you better," said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.
国王十分骄傲，因为他终于成了某个人的国王，他对小王子说道：“靠近些， 好让我好好看看你。”
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king's magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.
小王子看看四周，想找个地方坐下来，可是整个星球被国王华丽的白底黑花 皮袍占满了。他只好站在那里，但是因为疲倦了，他打起哈欠来。
"It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king," the monarch said to him. "I forbid you to do so."
君王对他说：“在一个国王面前打哈欠是违反礼节的。我禁止你打哈欠。”
"I can't help it. I can't stop myself," replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. "I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep…"
小王子羞愧地说道：“我实在忍不住，我长途跋涉来到这里，还没有睡觉呢。”
"Ah, then," the king said. "I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order."
国王说：“那好吧，我命令你打哈欠。好些年来我没有看见过任何人打哈欠。 对我来说，打哈欠倒是新奇的事。来吧，再打个哈欠！这是命令。”
"That frightens me… I cannot, any more…" murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.
“这倒叫我有点紧张……我打不出哈欠来了……”小王子红着脸说。
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king. "Then I-- I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to--"
“嗯！嗯！”国王回答道：“那么我……命令你忽而打哈欠，忽而……”
He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.
他嘟嘟囔囔，显出有点恼怒。
For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
因为国王所要求的主要是保持他的威严受到尊敬。他不能容忍不听他的命令。 他是一位绝对的君主。可是，他却很善良，他下的命令都是有理智的。
"If I ordered a general," he would say, by way of example, "if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault."
他常常说：“如果我叫一位将军变成一只海鸟，而这位将军不服从我的命令， 那么这就不是将军的过错，而是我的过错。”
"May I sit down?" came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.
小王子腼腆地试探道：“我可以坐下吗？”
"I order you to do so," the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.
“我命令你坐下。”国王一边回答，一边庄重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪 动了一下。
But the little prince was wondering… The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?
可是小王子感到很奇怪。这么小的行星，国王他对什么进行统治呢？
"Sire," he said to him, "I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question--"
他对国王说：“陛下……请原谅，我想问您……”
"I order you to ask me a question," the king hastened to assure him.
国王急忙抢着说道：“我命令你问我。”
"Sire-- over what do you rule?"
“陛下……你统治什么呢？”
"Over everything," said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
国王非常简单明了地说：“我统治一切。”
"Over everything?"
“一切？”
The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.
国王轻轻地用手指着他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。
"Over all that?" asked the little prince.
小王子说：“统治这一切？”
"Over all that," the king answered.
“统治这一切。”
For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.
原来他不仅是一个绝对的君主，而且是整个宇宙的君主。
"And the stars obey you?"
“那么，星星都服从您吗？”
"Certainly they do," the king said. "They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination."
“那当然！”国王对他说，“它们立即就得服从。我是不允许无纪律的。”
Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, with out ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:
这样的权力使小王子惊叹不已。如果掌握了这样的权力，那么，他一天就不 只是看到四十三次日落，而可以看到七十二次，甚至一百次，或是二百次日落，也不必要去挪动椅子了！由于他想起了他那被遗弃的小星球，心里有点难过，他 大胆地向国王提出了一个请求：
"I should like to see a sunset… do me that kindness… Order the sun to set…"
“我想看日落，请求您……命令太阳落山吧……”
"If I ordered a general to fly from one flower to another like a butterfly, or to write a tragic drama, or to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not carry out the order that he had received, which one of us would be in the wrong?" the king demanded. "The general, or myself?"
国王说道：“如果我命令一个将军象一只蝴蝶那样从这朵花飞到那朵花，或 者命令他写作一个悲剧剧本或者变一只海鸟，而如果这位将军接到命令不执行的话，那么，是他不对还是我不对呢？”
"You," said the little prince firmly.
“那当然是您的不对。”小王子肯定地回答。
"Exactly. One much require from each one the duty which each one can perform," the king went on. "Accepted authority rests first of all on reason. If you ordered your people to go and throw themselves into the sea, they would rise up in revolution. I have the right to require obedience because my orders are reasonable."
“一点也不错，”国王接着说，“向每个人提出的要求应该是他们所能做到 的。权威首先应该建立在理性的基础上。如果命令你的老百姓去投海，他们非起来革命不可。我的命令是合理的，所以我有权要别人服从。”
"Then my sunset?" the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.
“那么我提出的日落呢？”小王子一旦提出一个问题，他是不会忘记这个问 题的。
"You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favorable."
“日落么，你会看到的。我一定要太阳落山，不过按照我的统治科学，我得 等到条件成熟的时候。”
"When will that be?" inquired the little prince.
小王子问道：“这要等到什么时候呢？”
"Hum! Hum!" replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. "Hum! Hum! That will be about-- about-- that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed."
国王在回答之前，首先翻阅了一本厚厚的日历，嘴里慢慢说道：“嗯！嗯！ 日落大约……大约……在今晚七时四十分的时候！你将看到我的命令一定会被服从的。”
The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored.
小王子又打起哈欠来了。他遗憾没有看到日落。他有点厌烦了，他对国王说： “我没有必要再呆在这儿了。我要走了。”
"I have nothing more to do here," he said to the king. "So I shall set out on my way again."
这位因为刚刚有了一个臣民而十分骄傲自得的国王说道：
"Do not go," said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. "Do not go. I will make you a Minister!"
“别走，别走。我任命你当大臣。”
"Minister of what?"
“什么大臣”
"Minster of-- of Justice!"
“嗯……司法大臣！”
"But there is nobody here to judge!"
“可是，这儿没有一个要审判的人。”
"We do not know that," the king said to him. "I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk."
“很难说呀，”国王说道。“我很老了，我这地方又小，没有放銮驾的地方， 另外，一走路我就累。因此我还没有巡视过我的王国呢！”
"Oh, but I have looked already!" said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all…
“噢！可是我已经看过了。”小王子说道，并探身朝星球的那一侧看了看。 那边也没有一个人……
"Then you shall judge yourself," the king answered. "that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom."
“那么你就审判你自己呀！”国王回答他说。“这可是最难的了。审判自己 比审判别人要难得多啊！你要是能审判好自己，你就是一个真正有才智的人。”
"Yes," said the little prince, "but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet.
“我吗，随便在什么地方我都可以审度自己。我没有必要留在这里。”
"Hum! Hum!" said the king. "I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have."
国王又说：“嗯……嗯……我想，在我的星球上有一只老耗子。夜里，我听见它 的声音。你可以审判它，不时地判处它死刑。因此它的生命取决于你的判决。可是，你要有节制地使用这只耗子，每次判刑后都要赦免它，因为只有这一只耗子。”
"I," replied the little prince, "do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way."
“可是我不愿判死刑，我想我还是应该走。”小王子回答道。
"No," said the king.
“不行。”国王说。
But the little prince, having now completed his preparations for departure, had no wish to grieve the old monarch.
但是小王子，准备完毕之后，不想使老君主难过，说道：
"If Your Majesty wishes to be promptly obeyed," he said, "he should be able to give me a reasonable order. He should be able, for example, to order me to be gone by the end of one minute. It seems to me that conditions are favorable…"
“如果国王陛下想要不折不扣地得到服从，你可以给我下一个合理的命令。 比如说，你可以命令我，一分钟之内必须离开。我认为这个条件是成熟的……”
As the king made no answer, the little prince hesitated a moment. Then, with a sigh, he took his leave.
国王什么也没有回答。起初，小王子有些犹疑不决，随后叹了口气，就离开 了……
"I made you my Ambassador," the king called out, hastily.
“我派你当我的大使。”国王匆忙地喊道。
He had a magnificent air of authority.
国王显出非常有权威的样子。
"The grown-ups are very strange," the little prince said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
小王子在旅途中自言自语地说：“这些大人真奇怪。”
-
聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 11】The second planet was inhabited by a conceited man.
第二个行星上住着一个爱虚荣的人。
"Ah! Ah! I am about to receive a visit from an admirer!" he exclaimed from afar, when he first saw the little prince coming.
“喔唷！一个崇拜我的人来拜访了！”这个爱虚荣的人一见到小王子，老远 就叫喊起来。
For, to conceited men, all other men are admirers.
在那些爱虚荣的人眼里，别人都成了他们的崇拜者。
"Good morning," said the little prince. "That is a queer hat you are wearing."
“你好！”小王子说道。“你的帽子很奇怪。”
"It is a hat for salutes," the conceited man replied. "It is to raise in salute when people acclaim me. Unfortunately, nobody at all ever passes this way."
“这是为了向人致意用的。”爱虚荣的人回答道，“当人们向我欢呼的时候， 我就用帽子向他们致意。可惜，没有一个人经过这里。”
"Yes?" said the little prince, who did not understand what the conceited man was talking about.
小王子不解其意。说道：“啊？是吗？”
"Clap your hands, one against the other," the conceited man now directed him.
爱虚荣的人向小王子建议道：“你用一只手去拍另一只手。”
The little prince clapped his hands. The conceited man raised his hat in a modest salute.
小王子就拍起巴掌来。这位爱虚荣者就谦逊地举起帽子向小王子致意。
"This is more entertaining than the visit to the king," the little prince said to himself. And he began again to clap his hands, one against the other. The conceited man against raised his hat in salute.
小王子心想：“这比访问那位国王有趣。”于是他又拍起巴掌来。爱虚荣者 又举起帽子来向他致意。
After five minutes of this exercise the little prince grew tired of the game's monotony.
小王子这样做了五分钟，之后对这种单调的把戏有点厌倦了，说道：
"And what should one do to make the hat come down?" he asked.
“要想叫你的帽子掉下来，该怎么做呢？”
But the conceited man did not hear him. Conceited people never hear anything but praise.
可这回爱虚荣者听不进他的话，因为凡是爱虚荣的人只听得进赞美的话。
"Do you really admire me very much?" he demanded of the little prince.
他问小王子道：“你真的钦佩我吗？”
"What does that mean-- 'admire'?"
“钦佩是什么意思？”
"To admire mean that you regard me as the handsomest, the best-dressed, the richest, and the most intelligent man on this planet."
“钦佩么，就是承认我是星球上最美的人，服饰最好的人，最富有的人，最 聪明的人。”
"But you are the only man on your planet!"
“可您是您的星球上唯一的人呀！”
"Do me this kindness. Admire me just the same."
“让我高兴吧，请你还是来钦佩我吧！”
"I admire you," said the little prince, shrugging his shoulders slightly, "but what is there in that to interest you so much?"
小王子轻轻地耸了耸肩膀，说道：“我钦佩你，可是，这有什么能使你这样 感兴趣的？”
And the little prince went away.
于是小王子就走开了。
"The grown-ups are certainly very odd," he said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
小王子在路上自言自语地说了一句：“这些大人，肯定是十分古怪的。”
-
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【Chapter 12】The next planet was inhabited by a tippler. This was a very short visit, but it plunged the little prince into deep dejection.
小王子所访问的下一个星球上住着一个酒鬼。访问时间非常短，可是它却使 小王子非常忧伤。
"What are you doing there?" he said to the tippler, whom he found settled down in silence before a collection of empty bottles and also a collection of full bottles.
“你在干什么？”小王子问酒鬼，这个酒鬼默默地坐在那里，面前有一堆酒 瓶子，有的装着酒，有的是空的。
"I am drinking," replied the tippler, with a lugubrious air.
“我喝酒。”他阴沉忧郁地回答道。
"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince.
“你为什么喝酒？”小王子问道。
"So that I may forget," replied the tippler.
“为了忘却。”酒鬼回答。
"Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him.
小王子已经有些可怜酒鬼。他问道：“忘却什么呢？”
"Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head.
酒鬼垂下脑袋坦白道：“为了忘却我的羞愧。”
"Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him.
“你羞愧什么呢？”小王子很想救助他。
"Ashamed of drinking!" The tippler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.
“我羞愧我喝酒。”酒鬼说完以后就再也不开口了。
And the little prince went away, puzzled.
小王子迷惑不解地离开了。
"The grown-ups are certainly very, very odd," he said to himself, as he continued on his journey.
在旅途中，他自言自语地说道：“这些大人确实真叫怪。”
-
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【Chapter 13】The fourth planet belonged to a businessman. This man was so much occupied that he did not even raise his head at the little prince's arrival.
第四个行星是一个实业家的星球。这个人忙得不可开交，小王子到来的时候， 他甚至连头都没有抬一下。
"Good morning," the little prince said to him. "Your cigarette has gone out."
小王子对他说：“您好。您的烟卷灭了。”
"Three and two make five. Five and seven make twelve. Twelve and three make fifteen. Good morning. Fifteen and seven make twenty-two. Twenty-two and six make twenty-eight. I haven't time to light it again. Twenty-six and five make thirty-one. Phew! Then that makes five-hundred-and-one-million, six-hundred-twenty-two-thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one."
“三加二等于五。五加七等于十二。十二加三等于十五。你好。十五加七， 二十二。二十二加六，二十八。没有时间去再点着它。二十六加五，三十一。哎哟！一共是五亿一百六十二万二千七百三十一。”
"Five hundred million what?" asked the little prince.
“五亿什么呀？”
"Eh? Are you still there? Five-hundred-and-one million-- I can't stop… I have so much to do! I am concerned with matters of consequence. I don't amuse myself with balderdash. Two and five make seven…"
“嗯？你还待在这儿那？五亿一百万……我也不知道是什么了。我的工作很多…… 我是很严肃的，我可是从来也没有功夫去闲聊！二加五得七……”
"Five-hundred-and-one million what?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question once he had asked it.
“五亿一百万什么呀？”小王子重复问道。一旦他提出了一个问题，是从来 也不会放弃的。
The businessman raised his head.
这位实业家抬起头，说：
"During the fifty-four years that I have inhabited this planet, I have been disturbed only three times. The first time was twenty-two years ago, when some giddy goose fell from goodness knows where. He made the most frightful noise that resounded all over the place, and I made four mistakes in my addition. The second time, eleven years ago, I was disturbed by an attack of rheumatism. I don't get enough exercise. I have no time for loafing. The third time-- well, this is it! I was saying, then, five -hundred-and-one millions--"
“我住在这个星球上五十四年以来，只被打搅过三次。第一次是二十二年前， 不知从哪里跑来了一只金龟子来打搅我。它发出一种可怕的噪音，使我在一笔帐目中出了四个差错。第二次，在十一年前，是风湿病发作，因为我缺乏锻炼所致。 我没有功夫闲逛。我可是个严肃的人。现在……这是第三次！我计算的结果是五亿一百万……”
"Millions of what?"
“几百万什么？”
The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question.
这位实业家知道要想安宁是无望的了，就说道：
"Millions of those little objects," he said, "which one sometimes sees in the sky."
“几百万个小东西，这些小东西有时出现在天空中。”
"Flies?"
“苍蝇吗？”
"Oh, no. Little glittering objects."
“不是，是些闪闪发亮的小东西。”
"Bees?"
“是蜜蜂吗？”
"Oh, no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life."
“不是，是金黄色的小东西，这些小东西叫那些懒汉们胡思乱想。我是个严 肃的人。我没有时间胡思乱想。”
"Ah! You mean the stars?"
“啊，是星星吗？”
"Yes, that's it. The stars."
“对了，就是星星。”
"And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?"
“你要拿这五亿星星做什么？”
"Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate."
“五亿一百六十二万七百三十一颗星星。我是严肃的人，我是非常精确的。”
"And what do you do with these stars?"
“你拿这些星星做什么？”
"What do I do with them?"
“我要它做什么？”
"Yes."
“是呀。”
"Nothing. I own them."
“什么也不做。它们都是属于我的。”
"You own the stars?"
“星星是属于你的？”
"Yes."
“是的。”
"But I have already seen a king who--"
“可是我已经见到过一个国王，他……”
"Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter."
“国王并不占有，他们只是进行‘统治’。这不是一码事。”
"And what good does it do you to own the stars?"
“你拥有这许多星星有什么用？”
"It does me the good of making me rich."
“拥有他们会是我富有”
"And what good does it do you to be rich?"
“你富有了有什么用？”
"It makes it possible for me to buy more stars, if any are ever discovered."
“富了就可以去买别的星星，如果有人发现了别的星星的话。”
"This man," the little prince said to himself, "reasons a little like my poor tippler…"
小王子自言自语地说：“这个人想问题有点象那个酒鬼一样。”
Nevertheless, he still had some more questions.
可是他又提了一些问题：
"How is it possible for one to own the stars?"
“你怎么能占有星星呢？”
"To whom do they belong?" the businessman retorted, peevishly.
“那么你说星星是谁的呀？”实业家不高兴地顶了小王子一句。
"I don't know. To nobody."
“我不知道，不属于任何人。”
"Then they belong to me, because I was the first person to think of it."
“那么，它们就是我的，因为是我第一个想到了这件事情的。”
"Is that all that is necessary?"
“这就行了吗？”
"Certainly. When you find a diamond that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you discover an island that belongs to nobody, it is yours. When you get an idea before any one else, you take out a patent on it: it is yours. So with me: I own the stars, because nobody else before me ever thought of owning them."
“那当然。如果你发现了一颗没有主人的钻石，那么这颗钻石就是属于你的。 当你发现一个岛是没有主的，那么这个岛就是你的。当你首先想出了一个办法，你就去领一个专利证，这个办法就是属于你的。既然在我之前不曾有任何人想到 要占有这些星星，那我就占有这些星星。”
"Yes, that is true," said the little prince. "And what do you do with them?"
“这倒也是。可是你用它们来干什么？”小王子说。
"I administer them," replied the businessman. "I count them and recount them. It is difficult. But I am a man who is naturally interested in matters of consequence."
“我经营管理这些星星。我一遍又一遍地计算它们的数目。这是一件困难的 事。但我是一个严肃认真的人！”
The little prince was still not satisfied.
小王子仍然还不满足，他说：
"If I owned a silk scarf," he said, "I could put it around my neck and take it away with me. If I owned a flower, I could pluck that flower and take it away with me. But you cannot pluck the stars from heaven…"
“对我来说，如果我有一条围巾，我可以用它来围着我的脖子，并且能带走 它。我有一朵花的话，我就可以摘下我的花，并且把它带走。可你却不能摘下这些星星呀！”
"No. But I can put them in the bank."
“我不能摘，但我可以把它们存在银行里。”
"Whatever does that mean?"
“这是什么意思呢？”
"That means that I write the number of my stars on a little paper. And then I put this paper in a drawer and lock it with a key."
“这就是说，我把星星的数目写在一片小纸头上，然后把这片纸头锁在一个 抽屉里。”
"And that is all?"
“这就算完事了吗？”
"That is enough," said the businessman.
“这样就行了。”
"It is entertaining," thought the little prince. "It is rather poetic. But it is of no great consequence."
小王子想道：“真好玩。这倒蛮有诗意，可是，并不算是了不起的正经事。”
On matters of consequence, the little prince had ideas which were very different from those of the grown-ups.
关于什么是正经事，小王子的看法与大人们的看法非常不同。他接着又说：
"I myself own a flower," he continued his conversation with the businessman, "which I water every day. I own three volcanoes, which I clean out every week (for I also clean out the one that is extinct; one never knows). It is of some use to my volcanoes, and it is of some use to my flower, that I own them. But you are of no use to the stars…"
“我有一朵花，我每天都给她浇水。我还有三座火山，我每星期把它们全都 打扫一遍。连死火山也打扫。谁知道它会不会再复活。我拥有火山和花，这对我的火山有益处，对我的花也有益处。但是你对星星并没有用处……”
The businessman opened his mouth, but he found nothing to say in answer. And the little prince went away.
实业家张口结舌无言以对。于是小王子就走了。
"The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary," he said simply, talking to himself as he continued on his journey.
在旅途中，小王子只是自言自语地说了一句：“这些大人们真是奇怪极了。”
-
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【Chapter14】The fifth planet was very strange. It was the smallest of all. There was just enough room on it for a street lamp and a lamplighter. The little prince was not able to reach any explanation of the use of a street lamp and a lamplighter, somewhere in the heavens, on a planet which had no people, and not one house. But he said to himself, nevertheless:
第五颗行星非常奇怪，是这些星星中最小的一颗。行星上刚好能容得下一盏 路灯和一个点路灯的人。小王子怎么也解释不通：这个坐落在天空某一角落，既没有房屋又没有居民的行星上，要一盏路灯和一个点灯的人做什么用。
"It may well be that this man is absurd. But he is not so absurd as the king, the conceited man, the businessman, and the tippler. For at least his work has some meaning. When he lights his street lamp, it is as if he brought one more star to life, or one flower. When he puts out his lamp, he sends the flower, or the star, to sleep. That is a beautiful occupation. And since it is beautiful, it is truly useful."
但他自己猜想：“可能这个人思想不正常。但他比起国王，比起那个爱虚荣 的人，那个实业家和酒鬼，却要好些。至少他的工作还有点意义。当他点着了他的路灯时，就象他增添了一颗星星，或是一朵花。当他熄灭了路灯时，就象让星 星或花朵睡着了似的。这差事真美妙，就是真正有用的了。”
When he arrived on the planet he respectfully saluted the lamplighter.
小王子一到了这个行星上，就很尊敬地向点路灯的人打招呼：
"Good morning. Why have you just put out your lamp?"
“早上好。——你刚才为什么把路灯灭了呢？”
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter. "Good morning."
“早上好。——这是命令。”点灯的回答道。
"What are the orders?"
“命令是什么？”
"The orders are that I put out my lamp. Good evening."
“就是熄掉我的路灯。——晚上好。”
And he lighted his lamp again.
于是他又点燃了路灯。
"But why have you just lighted it again?"
“那么为什么你又把它点着了呢？”
"Those are the orders," replied the lamplighter.
“这是命令。”点灯的人回答道。
"I do not understand," said the little prince.
“我不明白。”小王子说。
"There is nothing to understand," said the lamplighter. "Orders are orders. Good morning."
“没什么要明白的。命令就是命令。”点灯的回答说。“早上好。”
And he put out his lamp.
于是他又熄灭了路灯。
Then he mopped his forehead with a handkerchief decorated with red squares.
然后他拿一块有红方格子的手绢擦着额头。
"I follow a terrible profession. In the old days it was reasonable. I put the lamp out in the morning, and in the evening I lighted it again. I had the rest of the day for relaxation and the rest of the night for sleep."
“我干的是一种可怕的职业。以前还说得过去，早上熄灯，晚上点灯，剩下 时间，白天我就休息，夜晚我就睡觉……”
"And the orders have been changed since that time?"
“那么，后来命令改变了，是吗？”
"The orders have not been changed," said the lamplighter. "That is the tragedy! From year to year the planet has turned more rapidly and the orders have not been changed!"
点灯的人说：“命令没有改，惨就惨在这里了！这颗行星一年比一年转得更 快，而命令却没有改。”
"Then what?" asked the little prince.
“结果呢？”小王子问。
"Then-- the planet now makes a complete turn every minute, and I no longer have a single second for repose. Once every minute I have to light my lamp and put it out!"
“结果现在每分钟转一圈，我连一秒钟的休息时间都没有了。每分钟我就要 点一次灯，熄一次灯！”
"That is very funny! A day lasts only one minute, here where you live!"
“真有趣，你这里每天只有一分钟长？”
"It is not funny at all!" said the lamplighter. "While we have been talking together a month has gone by."
“一点趣味也没有，”点灯的说，“我们俩在一块说话就已经有一个月的时 间了。”
"A month?"
“一个月？”
"Yes, a month. Thirty minutes. Thirty days. Good evening."
“对。三十分钟。三十天！——晚上好。”
And he lighted his lamp again.
于是他又点着了了他的路灯。
As the little prince watched him, he felt that he loved this lamplighter who was so faithful to his orders. He remembered the sunsets which he himself had gone to seek, in other days, merely by pulling up his chair; and he wanted to help his friend.
小王子瞅着他，他喜欢这个点灯人如此忠守命令。这时，他想起了他自己从 前挪动椅子寻找日落的事。他很想帮助他的这位朋友。 “告诉你，我知道一种能使你休息的办法，你要什么时候休息都可以。”
"You know," he said, "I can tell you a way you can rest whenever you want to…"
“我老是想休息。”点灯人说。
"I always want to rest," said the lamplighter.
因为，一个人可以同时是忠实的，又是懒惰的。
For it is possible for a man to be faithful and lazy at the same time.
小王子接着说：
The little prince went on with his explanation:
“你的这颗行星这样小，你三步就可以绕它一圈。你只要慢慢地走，就可以 一直在太阳的照耀下，你想休息的时候，你就这样走……那么，你要白天又多长它就有多长。”
"Your planet is so small that three strides will take you all the way around it. To be always in the sunshine, you need only walk along rather slowly. When you want to rest, you will walk-- and the day will last as long as you like."
“这办法帮不了我多打忙，生活中我喜欢的就是睡觉。”点灯人说。
"That doesn't do me much good," said the lamplighter. "The one thing I love in life is to sleep."
“真不走运。”小王子说。
"Then you're unlucky," said the little prince.
“真不走运。”点灯人说。“早上好。”
"I am unlucky," said the lamplighter. "Good morning."
于是他又熄灭了路灯。
And he put out his lamp.
小王子在他继续往前旅行的途中，自言自语地说道：
"That man," said the little prince to himself, as he continued farther on his journey, "that man would be scorned by all the others: by the king, by the conceited man, by the tippler, by the businessman. Nevertheless he is the only one of them all who does not seem to me ridiculous. Perhaps that is because he is thinking of something else besides himself."
“这个人一定会被其他那些人，国王呀，爱虚荣的呀，酒鬼呀，实业家呀， 所瞧不起。可是唯有他不使我感到荒唐可笑。这可能是因为他所关心的是别的事，而不是他自己。”
He breathed a sigh of regret, and said to himself, again:
他惋惜地叹了口气，并且又对自己说道：
"That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people…"
“本来这是我唯一可以和他交成朋友的人。可是他的星球确实太小了，住不 下两个人……”
What the little prince did not dare confess was that he was sorry most of all to leave this planet, because it was blest every day with 1440 sunsets!
小王子没有勇气承认的是：他留恋这颗令人赞美的星星，特别是因为在那里 每二十四小时就有一千四百四十次日落！
-
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【Chapter 15】The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
第六颗行星则要大十倍。上面住着一位老先生，他在写作大部头的书。
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
“瞧！来了一位探险家。”老先生看到小王子时，叫了起来。
The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!
小王子在桌旁坐下，有点气喘吁吁。他跑了多少路啊！
"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
“你从哪里来的呀？”老先生问小王子。
"What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
“这一大本是什么书？你在这里干什么？”小王子问道。
"I am a geographer," the old gentleman said to him.
“我是地理学家。”老先生答道。
"What is a geographer?" asked the little prince.
“什么是地理学家？”
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts."
“地理学家，就是一种学者，他知道哪里有海洋，哪里有江河、城市、山脉、 沙漠。”
"That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.
“这倒挺有意思。”小王子说。“这才是一种真正的行当。”他朝四周围看 了看这位地理学家的星球。他还从来没有见过一颗如此壮观的行星。
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
“您的星球真美呀。上面有海洋吗？”
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
“这我没法知道。”地理学家说。
"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
“啊！”小王子大失所望。“那么，山脉呢？”
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
“这，我没法知道。”地理学家说。
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
“那么，有城市、河流、沙漠吗？”
"I couldn't tell you that, either."
“这，我也没法知道。”地理学家说。
"But you are a geographer!"
“可您还是地理学家呢！”
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."
“一点不错，”地理学家说，“但是我不是探察家。我手下一个探察家都没 有。地理学家是不去计算城市、河流、山脉、海洋、沙漠的。地理学家很重要，不能到处跑。他不能离开他的办公室。但他可以在办公室里接见探察家。他询问 探察家，把他们的回忆记录下来。如果他认为其中有个探察家的回忆是有意思的，那么地理学家就对这个探察家的品德做一番调查。”
"Why is that?"
“这是为什么呢？”
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much."
“因为一个说假话的探察家会给地理书带来灾难性的后果。同样，一个太爱 喝酒的探察家也是如此。”
"Why is that?" asked the little prince.
“这又是为什么？”小王子说。
"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."
“因为喝醉了酒的人把一个看成两个，那么，地理学家就会把只有一座山的 地方写成两座山。”
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer."
“我认识一个人，他要是搞探察的话，就很可能是个不好的探察员。”小王 子说。
"That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."
“这是可能的。因此，如果探察家的品德不错，就对他的发现进行调查。”
"One goes to see it?"
“去看一看吗？”
"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."
“不。那太复杂了。但是要求探察家提出证据来。例如，假使他发现了一座 大山，就要求他带来一些大石头。”
The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.
地理学家忽然忙乱起来。
"But you-- you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!"
“正好，你是从老远来的么！你是个探察家！你来给我介绍一下你的星球吧！”
And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink.
于是，已经打开登记簿的地理学家，削起他的铅笔来。他首先是用铅笔记下 探察家的叙述，等到探察家提出了证据以后再用墨水笔记下来。
"Well?" said the geographer expectantly.
“怎么样？”地理学家询问道。
"Oh, where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows."
“啊！我那里，”小王子说道，“没有多大意思，那儿很小。我有三座火山， 两座是活的，一座是熄灭了的。但是也很难说。”
"One never knows," said the geographer.
“很难说。”地理学家说道。
"I have also a flower."
“我还有一朵花。”
"We do not record flowers," said the geographer.
“我们是不记载花卉的。”地理学家说。
"Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!"
“这是为什么？花是最美丽的东西。”
"We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral."
“因为花卉是短暂的。”
"What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"
“什么叫短暂？”
"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things."
“地理学书籍是所有书中最严肃的书。”地理学家说道，“这类书是从不会 过时的。很少会发生一座山变换了位置，很少会出现一个海洋干涸的现象。我们要写永恒的东西。”
"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"
“但是熄灭的火山也可能会再复苏的。”小王子打断了地理学家。“什么叫 短暂？”
"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."
“火山是熄灭了的也好，苏醒的也好，这对我们这些人来讲都是一回事。” 地理学家说，“对我们来说，重要的是山。山是不会变换位置的。”
"But what does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it.
“但是，‘短暂’是什么意思？”小王子再三地问道。他一旦提出一个问题 是从不放过的。
"It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'"
“意思就是：有很快就会消失的危险。”
"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?"
“我的花是很快就会消失的吗？”
"Certainly it is."
“那当然。”
"My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!"
小王子自言自语地说：“我的花是短暂的，而且她只有四根刺来防御外侮！ 可我还把她独自留在家里！”
That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.
这是他第一次产生了后悔，但他又重新振作起来：
"What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.
“您是否能建议我去看些什么？”小王子问道。
"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."
“地球这颗行星，”地理学家回答他说，“它的名望很高……”
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
于是小王子就走了，他一边走一边想着他的花。
-
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【Chapter 16】So then the seventh planet was the Earth.
第七个行星，于是就是地球了。
The Earth is not just an ordinary planet! One can count, there 111 kings (not forgetting, to be sure, the Negro kings among them), 7000 geographers, 900,000 businessmen, 7,500,000 tipplers, 311,000,000 conceited men-- that is to say, about 2,000,000,000 grown-ups.
地球可不是一颗普通的行星！它上面有一百一十一个国王（当然，没有漏掉 黑人国王），七千个地理学家，九十万个实业家，七百五十万个酒鬼，三亿一千一百万个爱虚荣的人，也就是说，大约有二十亿的大人。
To give you an idea of the size of the Earth, I will tell you that before the invention of electricity it was necessary to maintain, over the whole of the six continents, a veritable army of 462,511 lamplighters for the street lamps.
为了使你们对地球的大小有一个概念，我想要告诉你们：在发明电之前，在 六的大洲上，为了点路灯，需要维持一支为数四十六万二千五百一十一人的真正大军。
Seen from a slight distance, that would make a splendid spectacle. The movements of this army would be regulated like those of the ballet in the opera. First would come the turn of the lamplighters of New Zealand and Australia. Having set their lamps alight, these would go off to sleep. Next, the lamplighters of China and Siberia would enter for their steps in the dance, and then they too would be waved back into the wings. After that would come the turn of the lamplighters of Russia and the Indies; then those of Africa and Europe, then those of South America; then those of South America; then those of North America. And never would they make a mistake in the order of their entry upon the stage. It would be magnificent.
从稍远的地方看过去，它给人以一种壮丽辉煌的印象。这支军队的行动就象 歌剧院的芭蕾舞动作一样，那么有条不紊。首先出现的是新西兰和澳大利亚的点灯人。点着了灯，随后他们就去睡觉了。于是就轮到中国和西伯利亚的点灯人走 上舞台。随后，他们也藏到幕布后面去了。于是就又轮到俄罗斯和印度的点灯人了。然后就是非洲和欧洲的。接着是南美的，再就是北美的。他们从来也不会搞 错他们上场的次序。真了不起。
Only the man who was in charge of the single lamp at the North Pole, and his colleague who was responsible for the single lamp at the South Pole-- only these two would live free from toil and care: they would be busy twice a year.
北极仅有一盏路灯，南极也只有一盏；唯独北极的点灯人和他南极的同行， 过着闲逸、懒散的生活：他们每年只工作两次。
-
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【Chapter 17】When one wishes to play the wit, he sometimes wanders a little from the truth. I have not been altogether honest in what I have told you about the lamplighters. And I realize that I run the risk of giving a false idea of our planet to those who do not k now it. Men occupy a very small place upon the Earth. If the two billion inhabitants who people its surface were all to stand upright and somewhat crowded together, as they do for some big public assembly, they could easily be put into one public square twenty miles long and twenty miles wide. All humanity could be piled up on a small Pacific islet.
当人们想要说得俏皮些的时候，说话就可能会不大实在。在给你们讲点灯人 的时候，我就不那么忠实，很可能给不了解我们这个星球的人们造成一个错误的 概念。在地球上，人们所占的位置非常小。如果住在地球上的二十亿居民全站着， 并且象开大会一样靠得紧些，那么就可以从容地站在一个二十海里见方的广场上。 也就是说可以把整个人类集中在太平洋中一个最小的岛屿上。
The grown-ups, to be sure, will not believe you when you tell them that. They imagine that they fill a great deal of space. They fancy themselves as important as the baobabs. You should advise them, then, to make their own calculations. They adore fig ures, and that will please them. But do not waste your time on this extra task. It is unnecessary. You have, I know, confidence in me.
当然，大人们是不会相信你们的。他们自以为要占很大地方，他们把自己看 得象猴面包树那样大得了不起。你们可以建议他们计算一下。这样会使他们很高兴，因为他们非常喜欢数目字。可是你们无须浪费时间去做这种乏味的连篇累牍 的演算。这没有必要。你们可以完全相信我。
When the little prince arrived on the Earth, he was very much surprised not to see any people. He was beginning to be afraid he had come to the wrong planet, when a coil of gold, the color of the moonlight, flashed across the sand.
小王子到了地球上感到非常奇怪，他一个人也没有看到，他正担心自己跑错 了星球。这时，在沙地上有一个月光色的圆环在蠕动。
"Good evening," said the little prince courteously.
小王子毫无把握地随便说了声：“晚安。”
"Good evening," said the snake.
“晚安。”蛇说道。
"What planet is this on which I have come down?" asked the little prince.
“我落在什么行星上？”小王子问道。
"This is the Earth; this is Africa," the snake answered.
“在地球上，在非洲。”蛇回答道。
"Ah! Then there are no people on the Earth?"
“啊！……怎么，难道说地球上没有人吗？”
"This is the desert. There are no people in the desert. The Earth is large," said the snake.
“这里是沙漠，沙漠中没有人。地球是很大的。”蛇说。
The little prince sat down on a stone, and raised his eyes toward the sky.
小王子坐在一块石头上，抬眼望着天空，说道：
"I wonder," he said, "whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again… Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!"
“我捉摸这些星星闪闪发亮是否为了让每个人将来有一天都能重新找到自己 的星球。看，我那颗行星。它恰好在我们头顶上……可是，它离我们好远哟！”
"It is beautiful," the snake said. "What has brought you here?"
“它很美。”蛇说，“你到这里来干什么呢？”
"I have been having some trouble with a flower," said the little prince.
“我和一朵花闹了别扭。”小王子说。
"Ah!" said the snake.
“啊！”蛇说道。
And they were both silent.
于是他们都沉默下来。
"Where are the men?" the little prince at last took up the conversation again. "It is a little lonely in the desert…"
“人在什么地方？”小王子终于又开了腔。“在沙漠上，真有点孤独……”
"It is also lonely among men," the snake said.
“到了有人的地方，也一样孤独。”蛇说。
The little prince gazed at him for a long time.
小王子长时间地看着蛇。
"You are a funny animal," he said at last. "You are no thicker than a finger…"
“你是个奇怪的动物，细得象个手指头……。”小王子终于说道。
"But I am more powerful than the finger of a king," said the snake.
“但我比一个国王的手指更有威力。”蛇说道。
The little prince smiled.
小王子微笑着说：
"You are not very powerful. You haven't even any feet. You cannot even travel…"
“你并不那么有威力……你连脚都没有……你甚至都不能旅行……”
"I can carry you farther than any ship could take you," said the snake.
“我可以把你带到很远的地方去，比一只船能去的地方还要远。”蛇说道。
He twined himself around the little prince's ankle, like a golden bracelet.
蛇就盘结在小王子的脚腕子上，象一只金镯子。
"Whomever I touch, I send back to the earth from whence he came," the snake spoke again. "But you are innocent and true, and you come from a star…"
“被我碰触的人，我就把他送回老家去。”蛇还说，“可是你是纯洁的，而 且是从另一个星球上来的……”
The little prince made no reply.
小王子什么也没有回答。
"You move me to pity-- you are so weak on this Earth made of granite," the snake said. "I can help you, some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can--"
“在这个花岗石的地球上，你这么弱小，我很可怜你。如果你非常怀念你的 星球，那时我可以帮助你。我可以……”
"Oh! I understand you very well," said the little prince. "But why do you always speak in riddles?"
“啊！我很明白你的意思。”小王子说，“但是你为什么说话总是象让人猜 谜语似的？”
"I solve them all," said the snake.
“这些谜语我都能解开的。”蛇说。
And they were both silent.
于是他们又都沉默起来。
-
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【Chapter 5】As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince's planet, his departure from it, his journey. The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
每天我都了解到一些关于小王子的星球，他的出走和旅行等事情。这些都是 偶然从各种反应中慢慢得到的。就这样，第三天我就了解到关于猴面包树的悲剧。
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly-- as if seized by a grave doubt-- "It is true, isn't it, that sheep eat little bushes?"
这一次又是因为羊的事情，突然小王子好象是非常担心地问我道：
"Yes, that is true."
“羊吃小灌木，这是真的吗？”
"Ah! I am glad!"
“是的，是真的。”
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:
“啊，我真高兴。”
"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?"
我不明白羊吃小灌木这件事为什么如此重要。可小王子又说道：
I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
“因此，它们也吃猴面包树罗？”
The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.
我对小王子说，猴面包树可不是小灌木，而是象教堂那么大的大树；即便是 带回一群大象，也啃不了一棵猴面包树。
"We would have to put them one on top of the other," he said.
一群大象这种想法使小王子发笑：
But he made a wise comment:
“那可得把这些大象一只叠一只地垒起来。”
"Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little."
他很有见识地说：
"That is strictly correct," I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?"
“猴面包树在长大之前，开始也是小小的。”
He answered me at once, "Oh, come, come!", as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
“不错。可是为什么你想叫你的羊去吃小猴面包树呢？”
Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived-- as on all planets-- good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin-- timidly at first-- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
他回答我道：“唉！这还用说！”似乎这是不言而喻的。可是我自己要费很大的心劲才能弄懂这个问题。
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces…
原来，在小王子的星球上就象其他所有星球上一样，有好草和坏草；因此， 也就有益草的草籽和毒草的草籽，可是草籽是看不见的。它们沉睡在泥土里，直到其中的一粒忽然想要苏醒过来……于是它就伸展开身子，开始腼腆地朝着太阳长 出一棵秀丽可爱的小嫩苗。如果是小萝卜或是玫瑰的嫩苗，就让它去自由地生长。 如果是一棵坏苗，一旦被辨认出来，就应该马上把它拔掉。因为在小王子的星球 上，有些非常可怕的种子……这就是猴面包树的种子。在那里的泥土里，这种种子 多得成灾。而一棵猴面包树苗，假如你拔得太迟，就再也无法把它清除掉。它就 会盘踞整个星球。它的树根能把星球钻透，如果星球很小，而猴面包树很多，它 就把整个星球搞得支离破碎。
"It is a question of discipline," the little prince said to me later on. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work," the little prince added, "but very easy."
“这是个纪律问题。”小王子后来向我解释道。“当你早上梳洗完毕以后， 必须仔细地给星球梳洗，必须规定自己按时去拔掉猴面包树苗。这种树苗小的时 候与玫瑰苗差不多，一旦可以把它们区别开的时候，就要把它拔掉。这是一件非 常乏味的工作，但很容易。”
And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing, so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes," he added, "there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs, that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes…"
有一天，他劝我用心地画一副漂亮的图画，好叫我家乡的孩子们对这件事有 一个深刻的印象。他还对我说：“如果将来有一天他们出外旅行，这对他们是很 有用的。有时候，人们把自己的工作推到以后去做，并没有什么妨害，但要遇到 拔猴面包树苗这种事，那就非造成大灾难不可。我遇到过一个星球，上面住着一 个懒家伙，他放过了三棵小树苗……”
So, as the little prince described it to me, I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood, and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid, that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children," I say plainly, "watch out for the baobabs!"
于是，根据小王子的说明，我把这个星球画了下来。我从来不大愿意以道学 家的口吻来说话，可是猴面包树的危险，大家都不大了解，对迷失在小行星上的 人来说，危险性非常之大，因此这一回，我贸然打破了我的这种不喜欢教训人的 惯例。我说：“孩子们，要当心那些猴面包树呀！”
My friends, like myself, have been skirting this danger for a long time, without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.
为了叫我的朋友们警惕这种 危险——他们同我一样长期以来和这种危险接触，却没有意识到它的危险性—— 我花了很大的功夫画了这副画。我提出的这个教训意义是很重大的，花点功夫是 很值得的。
Perhaps you will ask me, "Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs?"
你们也许要问，为什么这本书中别的画都没有这副画那么壮观呢？
The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.
回答很简单：别的画我也曾经试图画得好些，却没成功。而当我画猴面包树时，有 一种急切的心情在激励着我。
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聆听一个故事，品味一段人生
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【Chapter 6】Oh, little prince! Bit by bit I came to understand the secrets of your sad little life… For a long time you had found your only entertainment in the quiet pleasure of looking at the sunset. I learned that new detail on the morning of the fourth day, w hen you said to me:
啊！小王子，就这样，我逐渐懂得了你那忧郁的生活。过去相当长的时间里 你唯一的乐趣就是观赏那夕阳西下的温柔晚景。这个新的细节，是我在第四天早 晨知道的。你当时对我说道：
"I am very fond of sunsets. Come, let us go look at a sunset now."
“我喜欢看日落。我们去看一回日落吧！”
"But we must wait," I said.
“可是得等着……”
"Wait? For what?"
“等什么？”
"For the sunset. We must wait until it is time."
“等太阳落山。”
At first you seemed to be very much surprised. And then you laughed to yourself. You said to me:
开始，你显得很惊奇的样子，随后你笑自己的糊涂。你对我说：
"I am always thinking that I am at home!"
“我总以为是在我的家乡呢！”
Just so. Everybody knows that when it is noon in the United States the sun is setting over France.
确实，大家都知道，在美国是正午时分，在法国，正夕阳西下.
If you could fly to France in one minute, you could go straight into the sunset, right from noon. Unfortunately, France is too far away for that. But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like…
只在一分 钟内赶到法国就可看到日落。可惜法国是那么的遥远。而在你那样的小行星上， 你只要把你的椅子挪动几步就行了。这样，你便可随时看到你想看的夕阳余辉……
"One day," you said to me, "I saw the sunset forty-four times!"
“一天，我看见过四十三次日落。”
And a little later you added:
过一会儿，你又说：
"You know-- one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…"
“你知道，当人们感到非常苦闷时，总是喜欢日落的。”
"Were you so sad, then?" I asked, "on the day of the forty-four sunsets?"
“一天四十三次，你怎么会这么苦闷？”
But the little prince made no reply.
小王子没有回答
- Näytä enemmän
