英文小說連載《小王子》No.3“他從哪里來”
2019-01-09 21:00:53三好網
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.
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：
"What is that object？"
"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."
And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.
He cried out， then：
"What！ You dropped down from the sky？"
"Yes，" I answered， modestly.
"Oh！ That is funny！"
And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter， which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
Then he added：
"So you， too， come from the sky！ Which is your planet？"
At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence； and I demanded， abruptly：
"Do you come from another planet？"
But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently， without taking his eyes from my plane：
"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away..."
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.
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.
"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？"
After a reflective silence he answered：
"The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."
"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."
But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer：
"Tie him！ What a queer idea！"
"But if you don't tie him，" I said， "he will wander off somewhere， and get lost."
My friend broke into another peal of laughter：
"But where do you think he would go？"
"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."
Then the little prince said， earnestly：
"That doesn't matter. Where I live， everything is so small！"
And， with perhaps a hint of sadness， he added：
"Straight ahead of him， nobody can go very far..."
我費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，他好象壓根沒有聽見似的。他無意中吐露的一些話逐漸使我搞清了他的來歷。例如，當他第一次瞅見我的飛機時（我就不畫出我的飛機了，因為這種圖畫對我來說太復雜），他問我道：
“這是個啥玩藝？”
“這不是‘玩藝兒’。它能飛。這是飛機。是我的飛機。”
我當時很驕傲地告訴他我能飛。于是他驚奇地說道：
“怎么？你是從天上掉下來的？”
“是的”。我謙遜地答道。
“啊？這真滑稽。”
此時小王子發出一陣清脆的笑聲。這使我很不高興。我要求別人嚴肅地對待我的不幸。然后，他又說道：
“那么，你也是從天上來的了！你是哪個星球上的？”
即刻，對于他是從哪里來的這個秘密我隱約發現到了一點線索；于是，我就突然問道：
“你是從另一個星球上來的嗎？”
可是他不回答我的問題。他一面看著我的飛機，一面微微地點點頭，接著說道：
“可不是么，乘坐這玩藝兒，你不可能是從很遠的地方來的…”
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。
你們可以想見這種關于“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。
“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？”
他沉思了一會，然后回答我說：
“好在有你給我的那只箱子，夜晚可以給小羊當房子用。”
“那當然。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。”
我的建議看來有點使小王子反感。
“栓住它，多么奇怪的主意。”
“如果你不栓住它，它就到處跑，那么它會跑丟的。”
我的這位朋友又笑出了聲：
“你想要它跑到哪里去呀？”
“不管什么地方。它一直往前跑…”
這時，小王子鄭重其事地說：
“這沒有什么關系，我那里很小很小。”
接著，他略帶傷感地又補充了一句：
“一直朝前走，也不會走出多遠…”
