Little Prince 适合大人读的童话书：《小王子》 (第4章)

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.

你们不要忘记，我当时处在远离人烟千里之外的地方。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. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him: But-what are you doing here?

他丝毫不象是一个迷失在旷无人烟的大沙漠中的孩子。当我在惊讶之中终于又能说出话来的时候，对他说道：唉，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: If you please-draw me a sheep. When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

可是他却不慌不忙地好象有一件重要的事一般，对我重复地说道：请……给我画一只羊。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 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.

在这旷无人烟的沙漠上，面临死亡的危险的情况下，尽管这样的举动使我感到十分荒诞，我还是掏出了一张纸和一支钢笔。

 

But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly, too) that I did not know how to draw.

这时我却又记起，我只学过地理、历史、算术和语法，就有点不大高兴地对小家伙说我不会画画。

 

He answered me:“That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep.” 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.

他回答我说：“没有关系，给我画一只羊吧!” 因为我从来没有画过羊，我就给他重画我所仅仅会画的两副画中的那副闭着肚皮的巨蟒。

 

And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with. 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.

我听了他的话，简直目瞪口呆。不，不！我不要蟒蛇，它肚子里还有一头象。他接着说：“巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太占地方。”

 

Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep. So then I made a drawing.

我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。我就给他画了。