暖心小說《小王子》第3章

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.
我費(fèi)了好長時間才弄清楚他是從哪里來的。小王子向我提出了很多問題。可是對我提出的問題，他好像壓根沒有聽見似的。他無意中吐露的一些話逐漸使我搞清了他的來歷。

The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane； that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me:
例如，當(dāng)他第一次瞅見我的飛機(jī)時(我就不畫出我的飛機(jī)了，因?yàn)檫@種圖畫對我來說太復(fù)雜)，他問我道：

"What is that object？"
“這是個啥玩藝？”

"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."
“這不是‘玩藝兒’。它能飛。這是飛機(jī)。是我的飛機(jī)。”

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly. He cried out, then:
我當(dāng)時很驕傲地告訴他我能飛。于是他驚奇地說道：

"What！ You dropped down from the sky？"
“怎么？你是從天上掉下來的？”

"Yes," I answered, modestly.
“是的”。我謙遜地答道。

"Oh！ That is funny！"
“啊？這真滑稽。”

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
此時小王子發(fā)出一陣清脆的笑聲。這使我很不高興。我要求別人嚴(yán)肅地對待我的不幸。

Then he added:
然后，他又說道：

"So you, too, come from the sky！ Which is your planet？"
“那么，你也是從天上來的了！你是哪個星球上的？”

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence； and I demanded, abruptly:
即刻，對于他是從哪里來的這個秘密我隱約發(fā)現(xiàn)到了一點(diǎn)線索；于是，我就突然問道：

"Do you come from another planet？"
“你是從另一個星球上來的嗎？”

But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:
可是他不回答我的問題。他一面看著我的飛機(jī)，一面微微地點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，接著說道：

"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away…"
“可不是么，乘坐這玩藝兒，你不可能是從很遠(yuǎn)的地方來的……”

And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
說到這里，他就長時間地陷入沉思之中。然后，從口袋里掏出了我畫的小羊，看著他的寶貝入了神。

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.
你們可以想見這種關(guān)于“別的星球”的若明若暗的話語使我心里多么好奇。因此我竭力地想知道其中更多的奧秘。

"My little man, where do you come from？ What is this 'where I live,' of which you speak？ Where do you want to take your sheep？"
“你是從哪里來的，我的小家伙？你的家在什么地方？你要把我的小羊帶到哪里去？”

After a reflective silence he answered:
他沉思了一會，然后回答我說：

"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."
“好在有你給我的那只箱子，夜晚可以給小羊當(dāng)房子用。”

"That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to."
“那當(dāng)然。如果你聽話的話，我再給你畫一根繩子，白天可以栓住它。再加上一根扦桿。”

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:
我的建議看來有點(diǎn)使小王子反感。

"Tie him！ What a queer idea！"
“栓住它，多么奇怪的主意。”

"But if you don't tie him," I said, "he will wander off somewhere, and get lost."
“如果你不栓住它，它就到處跑，那么它會跑丟的。”

My friend broke into another peal of laughter:
我的這位朋友又笑出了聲：

"But where do you think he would go？"
“你想要它跑到哪里去呀？”

"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."
“不管什么地方。它一直往前跑……”

Then the little prince said, earnestly:
這時，小王子鄭重其事地說：

"That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small！"
“這沒有什么關(guān)系，我那里很小很小。”

And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:
接著，他略帶傷感地又補(bǔ)充了一句：

"Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far…"
“一直朝前走，也不會走出多遠(yuǎn)……”

（來源：愛詞霸? 編輯：Julie）