介绍:
Chapter II
第二章
So I lived my life all alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Sahara Desert six years ago.
我就这样孤独地生活着，没有一个能真正谈得来的朋友，直到六年前在撒哈拉沙漠上发生了那次故障。
Something was broken in my engine.
我的发动机里出了毛病。
And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone.
当时由于我既没有带机械师也没有带旅客，我就试图独自完成这个困难的维修工作。
For me, it was a matter of life or death: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.
这对我来说是个生与死的问题。我随身带的水只够撑一个星期。
The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation.
第一天晚上我就睡在这远离人间烟火的大沙漠上。
I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean.
我比在大海中失事，只能伏在小木排上的船员还要孤独无助。
Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice.
于是在第二天拂晓，当一个奇怪的小声音叫醒我的时候，你们可以想见我当时是多么吃惊。
It said: "If you please…draw me a sheep…”
这小小的声音说道：“劳驾…请给我画一只羊好吗？”
“What？”
“啊？”
“Draw me a sheep…”
“给我画一只羊…”
I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck.
我仿佛受到了雷击，猛然站立起来。
I rubbed my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me.
我使劲地揉了揉眼睛，仔细地看了看。
And I saw an extraordinary little fellow, standing there, examining me with great seriousness.
我看见一个十分奇怪的小家伙严肃地盯着我。
Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him.
这是后来我给他画出来的最好的一副画像。
But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.
可是，我的画当然要比他本人的模样逊色得多。
This is not my fault.
这不是我的过错。
The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter’s career when I was six years old,
六岁时，我那个成为画家的梦想就被扼杀了，
and I never learned to draw anything, except boa constrictors, outside and inside.
除了画过开着肚皮和蒙着肚皮的蟒蛇，我压根就没学过画画。
So I stared wide-eyed at this sudden apparition.
我惊奇地睁大着眼睛看着这突然出现的小家伙。
Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region.
别忘了，我当时可是处在远离人烟千里之外的地方。
Yet this little fellow seemed neither to be lost nor fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear.
而这个小家伙给我的印象是，他既不象迷了路的样子，也没有半点疲乏、饥渴、惧怕的神情。
Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation.
他丝毫不像是一个迷失在旷无人烟的大沙漠中的孩子。
When at last I was able to speak, I asked:
当我在惊讶之中终于又能说出话来的时候，我问道：
“But…what are you doing here?”
“可…你在这儿干什么？”
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence:他轻轻地，又似乎郑重其事地对我重复道：
“Please… draw me a sheep.”
“请…给我画一只羊。”
In the face of an overpowering mystery, you dare not disobey.
当一种神秘的东西把你镇住的时候，你是不敢不听从它的支配的。
Absurd as it seemed, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain pen.
于是，在这荒无人烟的沙漠上，并且随时都有死亡的危险，我掏出了一张纸和我的钢笔，尽管我觉得这很荒诞。
But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar,
这时我又想起我把学习的精力都用在了地理、历史、算术和语法上，
I told this little fellow（rather crossly） that I did not know how to draw.
就有点没好气地对这个小家伙说我不会画画。
He replied: “That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep.”
他说：“没关系，给我画一只羊吧！”
But I had never drawn a sheep.
但我从来没有画过羊。
So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often---the boa constrictor from the outside.
我就给他重画了我所仅仅会画的两幅画中的—幅—那蒙着肚皮的巨蟒。
And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with:
但听了他的话，我简直惊呆了，他说：
“No, no! I don’t want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. ”
“不，不！我不要蛇吞象。”
“A boa constrictor is very dangerous, and an elephant is very cumbersome.”
“巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太累赘。”
“Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.”
“我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。”
So then I made a drawing.
于是我就给他画了。
He looked at it carefully, then he said: “ No. This sheep is already quite sick. Make me another.”
他专心地看着，随后又说：“我不要，这只羊已经病得很重了。给我重新画一只。”
So I made another drawing.
我又画了起来。
My friend smiled gently and indulgently.
我的这位朋友天真可爱地笑了，并客气地说道：
“You see for yourself, ” he said, “that is not a sheep. It’s a ram. It has horns.”
“你看，你画的不是绵羊，是头公羊，它还有犄角呢。”
So I made my third drawing, but it was rejected too, just like the others.
于是我又画了第三张，但它同前几副画一样，又被拒绝了。
“This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time.”
“这一只太老了。我想要一只能活得很长的羊。”
By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart.
我不耐烦了，因为急着要拆发动机。
So I scribbled this drawing, and I threw out an explanation with it:
于是就草草画了这张画，并且匆匆地对他说道：
“This is just a box. The sheep you want is inside.”
“这是一只箱子，你要的羊就在里面。”
Then I was surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:
让我大吃一惊的是，我的这位小评判员喜笑颜开了，他说：
“That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will need a lot of grass?”
“我要的羊就是这个样子的！你说这只羊需要很多草吗？”
“Why?”
“为什么问这个呢？”
“Because where I live，everything is very small. “
“因为我住的地方非常小。”
“There will surely be enough grass for him, ” I said. “It is a very small sheep that I have given you.”
“当然是够吃的，我给你画的是很小的羊。”
He bent his head over the drawing, “Not so small that… Look! He has gone to sleep…”
他把脑袋靠近这张画，“也并没有很小…你看！它睡着了…”
And that’s how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.
就这样，我认识了小王子。
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