The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

《小王子》是法國作家安托萬·德·圣-?？颂K佩里于1942年寫成的著名法國兒童文學(xué)短篇小說。小說的主人公是來自外星球的小王子。小說以一位飛行員作為故事敘述者，講述了小王子從自己星球出發(fā)前往地球的過程中，所經(jīng)歷的各種歷險(xiǎn)。作者以小王子的孩子式的眼光，透視出成人的空虛、盲目、愚妄和死板教條，用天真簡單的語言寫出了人類的孤獨(dú)寂寞。同時(shí)，也表達(dá)出作者對金錢關(guān)系的批判，對真善美的謳歌。

本文節(jié)選自《小王子》第四章。

He stared at me，thunderstruck.

Matters of consequence！

He looked at me there，with my hammer in my hand，my fingers black with engine- grease，bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly.

You talk just like the grown-ups！

That made me a little ashamed.

But he went on，relentlessly：“You mix everything up to- gether...You confuse everything.”

He was really very angry.

He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.

I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman.

He has never smelled a flower.

He has never looked at a star.

He has never loved any one.

He has never done anything in his life but add up figures.

And all day he says over and over，just like you ：“I am busy with matters of consequence！”

And that makes him swell up with pride.

But he is not a man—he is a mushroom！

A what？

A mushroom！

The little prince was now white with rage.

The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years.

For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same.

And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them？

他驚訝地看著我。

正經(jīng)事？

他瞅著我手拿錘子，手指沾滿了油污，伏在一個(gè)在他看來丑不可言的機(jī)件上。

你說話就和那些大人一樣！

這話使我有點(diǎn)難堪。

可是他又尖刻無情地說道：“你什么都分不清……你把什么都混在一起！”

他著實(shí)非常惱火。

搖動著腦袋，金黃色的頭發(fā)隨風(fēng)顫動著。

我到過一個(gè)星球，上面住著一個(gè)紅臉先生。

他從來沒聞過一朵花。

他從來沒有看過一顆星星。

他什么人也沒有喜歡過。

除了算帳以外，他什么也沒有做過。

他整天同你一樣老是說：“我有正經(jīng)事，我是個(gè)嚴(yán)肅的人”。

這使他傲氣十足。

他簡直不像是個(gè)人，他是個(gè)蘑菇。

是個(gè)什么？

是個(gè)蘑菇！

小王子當(dāng)時(shí)氣得臉色發(fā)白。

幾百萬年以來花兒都在制造著刺，

幾百萬年以來羊仍然在吃花。

要搞清楚為什么花兒費(fèi)那么大勁給自己制造沒有什么用的刺，這難道不是正經(jīng)事？

Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important？

Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman's sums？

And if I know-I，myself-one flower which is unique in the world，which grows nowhere but on my planet，

but which one little sheep can destroy in a single bite some morning，without even noticing what he is doing- Oh！You think that is not important！

His face turned from white to red as he continued：

If some one loves a flower，of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars，it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars.

He can say to himself，“Somewhere，my flower is there.”

But if the sheep eats the flower，in one moment all his stars will be darkened.

And you think that is not important！

He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing.

The night had fallen.

I had let my tools drop from my hands.

Of what moment now was my hammer，my bolt，or thirst，or death？

On one star，one planet，my planet，the Earth，there was a little prince to be comforted.

I took him in my arms，and rocked him.

I said to him：“The flower that you love is not in danger.”

I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep.

I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will.

I did not know what to say to him.

I felt awkward and blundering.

I did not know how I could reach him，where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more.

It is such a secret place，the land of tears.

I soon learned to know this flower better.

On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple.

They had only one ring of petals;they took up no room at all;they were a trouble to nobody.

One morning they would appear in the grass，and by night they would have faded peacefully away.

But one day，from a seed blown from no one knew where，a new flower had come up;

and the little prince had watched very closely over this

難道羊和花之間的戰(zhàn)爭不重要？

這難道不比那個(gè)大胖子紅臉先生的賬目更重要？