第七章

On the fifth day― again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep― the secret of the little prince’s life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:"A sheep― if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too""A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach.""Even flowers that have thorns""Yes, even flowers that have thorns.""Then the thorns― what use are they"I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.

“我到过一个星球，上面住着一个红脸先生。他向来没闻过一朵花。他向来没有看过一颗星星。他甚么人也没有喜好过。除了算账以外，他甚么也没有做过。他整天同你一样自言自语：‘我有端庄事要做！我是个端庄的人！’这使他傲气实足。但他不是小我，他是个蘑菇！”

"Matters of consequence!"

“几百万年以来花儿都有刺，几百万年以来绵羊都在吃带刺的花。要搞清楚为甚么花儿费那么大劲给本身长了没有甚么用的刺，这莫非不是端庄事？莫非绵羊和花之间的战役不首要？这莫非不比阿谁大瘦子红脸先生的账目更首要？如果我熟谙一朵大家间独一的花，只要我的星球上有它，别的处所都不存在，而一只小绵羊在某个早上一口就能把它毁掉，这莫非不首要？”

“那么刺有甚么用呢？”

但是他沉默了一会儿以后，怀着不满的表情冲我说：“我不信！花是强大的、浑厚的，它们老是设法庇护本身，觉得有了刺便能够显出本身的短长……”

The little prince was now white with rage.

“端庄事？”

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

他实在恼火。他甩动脑袋，金黄色的头发随风颤抖着。

他瞅着我手拿锤子，手指沾满了油污，伏在一个在他看来丑不成言的机件上。

夜幕已经来临。我放动手中的东西。我把锤子、螺钉、饥渴、灭亡全都抛在脑后。在一颗星球上，在一颗行星上，在我的行星上，在地球上有一个小王子需求安抚！我把他抱在怀里。我摇着他，对他说：“你爱的那朵花没有伤害……我会给你的小绵羊画一个口套……我会给你的花画一圈护栏……我会……”

“我甚么也不以为！我是随便答复你的。我可有端庄事要做！”

小王子气得神采发白。

“是个甚么？”

"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 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.

“那么刺有甚么用呢？”

There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:"I don’t believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are name. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons..."I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won’t turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

我不晓得该如何答复。那会儿我正忙着要从发动机上卸下一颗拧得太紧的螺丝。我发明机器毛病仿佛很严峻，饮水也快完了，担忧能够产生最坏的环境，内心很焦急。

“它碰到甚么吃甚么。”

他没法再说下去了，俄然泣不成声。

“有刺的也吃。”

“如果有人爱上了在这亿万颗星星中独一无二的一株花，当他看着这些星星的时候，这就足以使他感到幸运。他能够对本身说：‘我的那朵花就在此中的一颗星星上……’但是如果羊吃掉了这朵花，对他来讲，仿佛统统的星星一下子全都燃烧了一样！这莫非也不首要吗？”

“是个蘑菇！”

小王子一旦提出了题目，向来不会放过。这颗该死的螺丝使我很恼火，我因而就遵循大脑中的第一反应，随便答复了他一句：“刺甚么用都没有，花儿们的刺只是为了用心伤害别人。”

泪水的天下是多么奥秘啊！

我没答复。我当时想的是，如果这颗螺丝再和我作对，我就一锤子敲掉它。小王子又来打搅我的思路了：“你却以为花……”

"The thorns― what use are they"The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:"The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!""Oh!"

“连有刺的花也吃吗？”

第五天，还是托绵羊的福，我揭开了小王子糊口的奥妙。俄然，没有任何征象，就仿佛题目是来自长时候悄悄地对他本身题目的冥想，他向我发问：“一只绵羊，如果它如果吃小灌木，它也要吃花吗？”

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.

“你说话就和那些大人一样！”

他的脸变红了，接着说道：

Chapter 7

"You talk just like the grown-ups!"That made me a little ashamed. But he went on, relentlessly:"You mix everything up together... You confuse everything..."He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.

“噢！”

他惊奇地看着我。

"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"

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...

"A mushroom!"

这话使我有点尴尬。但是他又刻薄无情地持续说道：“你把甚么都混在一起……你把统统都搅散了。”

"And you actually believe that the flowers--""Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no no! I don’t believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don’t you see― I am very busy with matters of consequence!"He stared at me, thunderstruck.

我也不太晓得该说些甚么。我感觉本身太笨拙，并且犯了大错。我不晓得应当如何靠近他，如何了解他的话，如何重新和他手拉手，走在一起。