--the narrator crashes in the desert and makes the acquaintance of the little prince
作者坠落在沙漠中,遇到了小王子。
So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.
我独自生活,没有一个人可以和我说话,直到六年前,我在撒哈拉沙漠中飞机失事。我的引擎出了些故障。而且,因为没有机修工和任何乘客和我一起,所以我必须要独自解决所有的修理困难。我面临着一个关于生死存亡的问题:我几乎没有足够的水可以支撑一个星期。
The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:
第一晚,我睡在远离人类栖息地一千英里的沙漠中。那种孤立感远远超过漂浮在大海中的沉船水手。因此,你可以想象,晨光熹微,当我被一个奇怪的小声音惊醒的时候,我是多么惊吓。他说:
"If you please-- draw me a sheep!"
“如果你愿意——给我画一只绵羊吧!”
"What!"
“什么?”
"Draw me a sheep!"
“给我画一只绵羊!”
I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best potrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.
我完全像是受到雷击一样,一下子站起来。我使劲眨了眨眼睛,仔细环顾四周。我看到了一个非常特别的小人,站在那里认真的打量着我。如果你看到一张不错的肖像,然后我就可以做出来。但是我画画真的远远比不上我做模型。
That, however, is not my fault. The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.
然而,那也不是我的错。当我只有六岁的时候,那些成年人们扼杀了我的画家生涯,我从来没有学习画过任何东西,除了巨蟒的外部和内部。
Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him:
现在,我用眼睛惊恐的盯着这个突然出现的离奇的东西。记住,我坠落在远离人群聚集地一千英里的沙漠中。而且这个小人看起来既不像是迷失在沙漠中,也不是像因为劳累、饥饿、饥渴或者害怕而显得虚弱。他身上没有任何东西暗示着他是一个迷失在距离人类聚集地1000英里的沙漠中的小孩。最后,当我可以说话的时候,我对他说:
"But-- what are you doing here?"
“但,你在这里干什么呢?”
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: "If you please-- draw me a sheep..."
“他的回答非常缓慢,仿佛在宣布一个重大的结果,:如果你愿意,给我画一只绵羊吧......”
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, 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. But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little chap (tle crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw. He answered me:
当一个事物的神秘性是压倒性的时候,一个人就不敢不遵从。对我来说似乎很可笑,远离人群一千英里,濒临死亡的边缘,我从口袋里取出了一张纸和一支钢笔准备画绵羊。但是,接下来我却回想起了我是怎样专注于地理、历史、算数和语法学习的,我告诉那个小伙子(也是故意为难他)我不知道怎么画画。他回答我:
"That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep..."
“没关系,画一只绵羊就行了......”
But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with,
但是我从来没有画过绵羊。所以,我给他画了我经常画的画的其中一个。我画的是巨蟒的外部。我非常惊骇的听到这个小家伙对他问好,
"No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep."
“不,不,不!我不想一只大象被巨蟒吞食。巨蟒是非常危险的生物,大象很笨重。在我居住的地方,所有的东西都很小。我需要的是一只绵羊,给我画一只绵羊。”
So then I made a drawing.
所以,我画了一幅画。
He looked at it carefully, then he said:
他仔细观察后说:
"No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another."
“不,这只绵羊已经非常虚弱了,再给我画一只。”
So I made another drawing.
所以,我又画了一只。
My friend smiled gently and indulgenty.
我的朋友温和而又放肆的笑着。
"You see yourself," he said, "that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns."
“你看到了你自己,”他说,“这不是一只绵羊。这是一只公羊,它有角。”
So then I did my drawing over once more.
所以,我又重新画了一幅。
But it was rejected too, just like the others
但是还是被拒绝了,就像其他的一样。
"This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time."
“这一只太老了,我想要一只可以活的时间长一点的。”
By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart. So I tossed off this drawing.
这次,我的耐心被耗尽了,因为我急着开始拆卸我的引擎。所以,我扔了这幅画。
And I threw out an explanation with it.
而且,我还给出了解释。
"This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside."
“这只是一个盒子,你想要的绵羊在里面。”
I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:
我非常惊讶的看到这个年轻的裁判脸上闪烁着光芒。
"That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?"
“这正是我想要的!你觉得这只绵羊必须要吃很多草吗?”
"Why?"
“为什么这么问?”
"Because where I live everything is very small..."
“因为我居住的地方,所有的东西都很小......”
"There will surely be enough grass for him," I said. "It is a very small sheep that I have given you."
“那里当然会有足够的草了”,我说,“我给你的这只绵羊很小。”
He bent his head over the drawing:
他低下头看这幅画:
"Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep..."
“并不是很小——看!他已经睡着了......”
And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.
就这样,我认识了小王子。