The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

《小王子》是法國(guó)作家安托萬·德·圣-?？颂K佩里于1942年寫成的著名法國(guó)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(jiǎn)單的語(yǔ)言寫出了人類的孤獨(dú)寂寞。同時(shí)，也表達(dá)出作者對(duì)金錢關(guān)系的批判，對(duì)真善美的謳歌。

本文節(jié)選自《小王子》第五章。

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a lock of wild birds.

On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order.

He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes.

He possessed two active volcanoes;and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning.

He also had one volcano that was extinct.

But，as he said，“One never knows！”

So he cleaned out the extinct volcano，too.

If they are well cleaned out，volcanoes burn slowly and steadily，without any eruptions.

Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes.

That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

The little prince also pulled up，with a certain sense of dejection，the last little shoots of the baobabs.

He believed that he would never want to return.

But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him.

And when he watered the flower for the last time，and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe，he realised that he was very close to tears.

“Goodbye，”he said to the flower.

But she made no answer.

“Goodbye，”he said again.

The flower coughed.

But it was not because she had a cold.

“I have been silly，”she said to him，at last.“I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy... ”

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches.

我想小王子大概是利用一群候鳥遷徙的機(jī)會(huì)跑出來的。

在他出發(fā)的那天早上，他把他的星球收拾得整整齊齊，

他把上頭的活火山打掃得干干凈凈。

他有兩個(gè)活火山，早上熱早點(diǎn)很方便。

他還有一座死火山。

他想，“說不定它還會(huì)活動(dòng)呢！”

他也把它打掃干凈。

打掃干凈了，它們就可以慢慢地有規(guī)律地燃燒，而不會(huì)突然爆發(fā)。

火山爆發(fā)就像煙囪里的火焰一樣。

當(dāng)然，在我們地球上我們?nèi)颂?，不能打掃火山?/p>

所以火山給我們帶來很多很多麻煩。

小王子還把剩下的最后幾棵猴面包樹苗全拔了。他有點(diǎn)憂傷。

他以為他再也不會(huì)回來了。

這天，這些家?；钍顾械教貏e親切。

當(dāng)他最后一次澆花時(shí)，準(zhǔn)備把她好好珍藏起來，

他發(fā)覺自己要哭出來。

“再見了?！彼麑?duì)花兒說道。

可是花兒沒有回答他。

“再見了?！彼终f了一遍。

花兒咳嗽了一陣。

但并不是由于感冒。

她終于對(duì)他說道：“我剛才真蠢。請(qǐng)你原諒我。希望你能幸福?！?/p>

花兒對(duì)他毫不抱怨，他感到很驚訝。

He stood there all bewildered，the glass globe held arrested in midair.

He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

“Of course I love you，”the flower said to him.

It is my fault that you have not known it all the while.

That is of no importance.

But you—you have been just as foolish as I.

Try to be happy.

Let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more.

But the wind...？

My cold is not so bad as all that...the cool night air will do me good.

I am a flower.

But the animals？

Well，I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

It seems that they are very beautiful.

And if not the butterflies—and the caterpillars—who will call upon me？

You will be far away...as for the large animals—I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.

And，navely，she showed her four thorns.

Then she added：“Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go！”

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...

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.

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.

“Ah！Here is a subject，”exclaimed the king，when he saw the little prince coming.

And the little prince asked himself：“How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before？”

He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them，all men are subjects.

“Approach，so that I may see you better，”said the king，who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.

The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to

他舉著罩子，不知所措地佇立在那里。

他不明白她為什么會(huì)這樣溫柔恬靜。

“的確，我愛你?！被▋簩?duì)他說道。

你一點(diǎn)也不知道是我的錯(cuò)。

這絲毫不重要。

不過，你也和我一樣的蠢。

希望你今后能幸福。

把罩子放在一邊吧，我用不著它了。

要是風(fēng)來了怎么辦？

我的感冒并不那么重……夜晚的涼風(fēng)對(duì)我倒有好處。

我是一朵花。

要是有蟲子野獸呢？

我要是想認(rèn)識(shí)蝴蝶，經(jīng)不起兩三只尺蠖是不行的。

據(jù)說他們是很美的。

如果不是蝴蝶，毛蟲——不然還有誰(shuí)來看我呢？

你就要到遠(yuǎn)方去了。至于說大動(dòng)物，我并不怕，我有爪子。

于是，她天真地顯露出她那四根刺，

隨后又說道：“別這么磨蹭了。真煩人！你既然決定離開這兒，那么，快走吧！”

她是怕小王子看見她在哭。她是一朵非常驕傲的花……

在附近的宇宙中，還有325、326、327、328、329、330等幾顆小行星。

他就開始訪問這幾顆星球，想在那里找點(diǎn)事干，并且學(xué)習(xí)學(xué)習(xí)。

第一顆星球上住著一個(gè)國(guó)王。

國(guó)王穿著用紫紅色和白底黑花的毛皮做成的大禮服，坐在一個(gè)很簡(jiǎn)單卻又十分威嚴(yán)的寶座上。

當(dāng)他看見小王子時(shí)，喊了起來：“啊，來了一個(gè)臣民?！?/p>

小王子思量著：“他從來也沒有見過我，怎么會(huì)認(rèn)識(shí)我呢？”

他哪里知道，在那些國(guó)王的眼里，世界是非常簡(jiǎn)單的：所有的人都是臣民。

國(guó)王十分驕傲，因?yàn)樗K于成了某個(gè)人的國(guó)王，他對(duì)小王子說道：：靠近些，好讓我好好看看你?！?/p>

小王子看看四周，想找個(gè)地方坐下來，

sit down;

but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the kings magnificent ermine robe.

So he remained standing upright，and，since he was tired，he yawned.

“It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king，”the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.”

“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...

“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.

“That frightens me... I cannot，any more...”murmured the little prince，now completely abashed.

“Hum！Hum！”replied the king. “Then I —I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to—”

He sputtered a little，and seemed vexed.

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.

“If I ordered a general，”he would say，by way of ex- ample，"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.”

“May I sit down？”came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.

“I order you to do so，”the king answered him，and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.

But the little prince was wondering...

The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule？

“Sire，”he said to him，”I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question...”

“I order you to ask me a question，”the king hastened to assure him.

Sire-over what do you rule？

可是整個(gè)星球被國(guó)王華麗的白底黑花皮袍占滿了。

他只好站在那里，但是因?yàn)槠＞肓耍蚱鸸穪怼?/p>

君王對(duì)他說：“在一個(gè)國(guó)王面前打哈欠是違反禮節(jié)的。我禁止你打哈欠?！?/p>

小王子羞愧地說道：“我實(shí)在忍不住，”

我長(zhǎng)途跋涉來到這里，還沒有睡覺呢。

國(guó)王說：“那好吧，我命令你打哈欠。”

好些年來我沒有看見過任何人打哈欠了。

對(duì)我來說，打哈欠倒是新奇的事。

來吧，再打個(gè)哈欠！這是命令。

“這倒叫我有點(diǎn)緊張……我打不出哈欠來了……”小王子紅著臉說。

“嗯！嗯！”國(guó)王回答道：“那么我……命令你有時(shí)打哈欠，有時(shí)……”

他嘟嘟囔囔，顯出有點(diǎn)惱怒。

因?yàn)閲?guó)王所要求的主要是保持他的威嚴(yán)受到尊敬。

他不能容忍不聽他的命令。

他是一位絕對(duì)的君主。

可是，他卻很善良，他下的命令都是有理智的。

“如果我命令一個(gè)將軍，”他會(huì)說，舉個(gè)例子，“如果我命令一個(gè)將軍改變自己變成一個(gè)海鳥，”

而這位將軍不服從我的命令，那么這就不是將軍的過錯(cuò)，而是我的過錯(cuò)?！?/p>

小王子靦腆地試探道：“我可以坐下嗎？”

“我命令你坐下。”國(guó)王一邊回答，一邊莊重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪動(dòng)了一下。

可是小王子感到很奇怪。

這么小的行星，國(guó)王他對(duì)什么進(jìn)行統(tǒng)治呢？

他對(duì)國(guó)王說：“陛下……請(qǐng)?jiān)?，我想問您……?/p>

國(guó)王急忙搶著說道：“我命令你問我?！?/p>

陛下……你統(tǒng)治什么呢？

“Over everything，”said the king，with magnificent simplicity.

Over everything？

The king made a gesture，which took in his planet，the other planets，and all the stars.

“Over all that？”asked the little prince.

“Over all that，”the king answered.

For his rule was not only absolute：it was also universal.

And the stars obey you？

“Certainly they do，”the king said. “They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.”

國(guó)王非常簡(jiǎn)單明了地說：“我統(tǒng)治一切?！?/p>

一切？

國(guó)王輕輕地用手指著他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。

小王子說：“統(tǒng)治這一切？”

“統(tǒng)治這一切?！眹?guó)王回答。

原來他不僅是一個(gè)絕對(duì)的君主，而且是整個(gè)宇宙的君主。

那么，星星都服從您嗎？

“那當(dāng)然！”國(guó)王對(duì)他說，“它們立即就得服從。我是不允許無紀(jì)律的?！?/p>