适合大人读的童话书：《小王子》 第7章

And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time.

说到这里，他就长时间地陷入沉思之中。

 

Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.

然后，从口袋里掏出了我画的小羊，看着他的宝贝入了神。

 

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets."

你们可以想见这种关于“别的星球”的若明若暗的话语使我心里多么好奇。

 

I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.

因此我竭力地想知道其中更多的奥秘。

 

My little man, where do you come from?

你是从哪里来的，我的小家伙?

 

What is this ‘where I live, of which you speak?

你的家在什么地方?

 

Where do you want to take your sheep?

你要把我的小羊带到哪里去?

After a reflective silence he answered:

他沉思了一会，然后回答我说：

 

The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house.

好在有你给我的那只箱子，夜晚可以给小羊当房子用。

 

That is so.

那当然。

 

And if you are good I will give you a string, too,

如果你听话的话，我再给你画一根绳子，

 

so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to.

白天可以栓住它。再加上一根扦杆。我的建议看来有点使小王子反感。

 

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer: "Tie him! What a queer idea!"

但是小王子对他的侍从喊：“栓住它，多么奇怪的主意。”

 

"But if you don’t tie him," I said, "he will wander off somewhere, and get lost."

“如果你不栓住它，它就到处跑，那么它会跑丢的，”我说。

 

My friend broke into another peal of laughter: "But where do you think he would go?"

我的这位朋友又笑出了声：“你想要它跑到哪里去呀?”

 

Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.

不管什么地方。它一直往前跑。

 

Then the little prince said, earnestly: "That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"

这时，小王子郑重其事地说：“这没有什么关系，我那里很小很小。

 

And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added: "Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far..."

接着，他略带伤感地又补充了一句：“一直朝前走，也不会走出多远”