适合大人读的童话书：《小王子》 （第8章）

I had thus learned a second fact of great importance: this was that the planet the little prince came from was scarcely any larger than a house!

我还了解到另一件重要的事，就是他老家所在的那个星球比一座房子大不了多少。

  

But that did not really surprise me much.

这倒并没有使我感到太奇怪。

 

I knew very well that in addition to the great planets–such as the Earth, Jupiter, Mars, Venus–to which we have given names, there are also hundreds of others, some of which are so small that,one has a hard time seeing them through the telescope.

我知道除地球、木星、火星、金星这几个有名称的大行星以外，还有成百个别的星球，它们有的小得很，就是用望远镜也很难看见。

 

When an astronomer discovers one of these he does not give it a name, but only a number.

当一个天文学者发现了其中一个星星，他就给它编上一个号码。

 

He might call it, for example, "Asteroid 325." I have serious reason to believe that the planet from which the little prince came is the asteroid known as B-612.

例如把它称作“325小行星”。我有重要的根据认为小王子所来自的那个星球是小行星B612。

 

This asteroid has only once been seen through the telescope. That was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.

这颗小行星仅仅在1909年被一个土耳其天文学家用望远镜看见过一次。

 

On making his discovery, the astronomer had presented it to the International Astronomical Congress, in a great demonstration.

当时他曾经在一次国际天文学家代表大会上对他的发现作了重要的论证。

 

But he was in Turkish costume, and so nobody would believe what he said.

但由于他所穿衣服的缘故，那时没有人相信他。

 

 

 

Grown-ups are like that.

那些大人们就是这样。

 

Fortunately, however, for the reputation of Asteroid B-612, a Turkish dictator made a law that his subjects, under pain of death, should change to European costume.

幸好，土耳其的一个独裁者，为了小行星B612的声誉，迫使他的人民都要穿欧式服装，否则就处以死刑。

 

So in 1920 the astronomer gave his demonstration all over again, dressed with impressive style and elegance.

1920年，这位天文学家穿了一身非常漂亮的服装，重新作了一次论证。

 

And this time everybody accepted his report.

这一次所有的人都同意他的看法。

 

If I have told you these details about the asteroid, and made a note of its number for you, it is on account of the grown-ups and their ways.

我给你们讲关于小行星B612的这些细节，并且告诉你们它的编号，这是由于这些大人的缘故。