适合大人读的童话书：《小王子》 （第16章）
He stared at me, thunderstruck. Matters of consequence!
他惊讶地看着我。正经事？
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.
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可言的机件上。
You talk just like the grown-ups! That made me a little ashamed.
你说话就和那些大人一样! 这话使我有点难堪。
But he went on, relentlessly: "You mix everything up together...You confuse everything."
可是他又尖刻无情地说道：“你什么都分不清…你把什么都混在一起!”
He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.
他着实非常恼火。摇动着脑袋，金黄色的头发随风颤动着。
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.
我到过一个星球，上面住着一个红脸先生。他从来没闻过一朵花。他从来没有看过一颗星星。
He has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures.
他什么人也没有喜欢过。除了算帐以外，他什么也没有做过。
And all day he says over and over, just like you: "I am busy with matters of consequence!"
他整天同你一样老是说：“我有正经事，我是个严肃的人”。
And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man– he is a mushroom!"
这使他傲气十足。他简直不象是个人，他是个蘑菇。
A what? A mushroom!
是个什么? 是个蘑菇!
The little prince was now white with rage. The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years.
小王子当时气得脸色发白。几百万年以来花儿都在制造着刺，
For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same.
几百万年以来羊仍然在吃花。
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?
要搞清楚为什么花儿费那么大劲给自己制造没有什么用的刺，这难道不是正经事?
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?
难道羊和花之间的战争不重要? 这难道不比那个大胖子红脸先生的帐目更重要?
And if I know-I, myself-one flower which is unique in the world, which grows nowhere but on my planet,
如果我认识一朵人世间唯一的花，只有我的星球上有它，别的地方都不存在，
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!
而一只小羊胡里胡涂就这样把它一下子毁掉了，这难道不重要?
