The Little Prince Chapter 1

The Little Prince

Chapter 1

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest.

六岁的时候，我在一本描写原始森林的书中看到了一幅精彩的插画，书名叫《来自自然界的真实故事》。

It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

图上画的是一条蟒蛇正在吞食一头野兽。这是那幅画的摹本：

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

这本书中写道：“蟒蛇把猎物不加咀嚼地囫囵吞下，然后，它们就不能再动弹了；它们就在长长的六个月的睡眠中，消化这些食物。”

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

之后，我就对丛林中的奇遇思考得很多。于是，我用彩色铅笔画出了我的第一幅图画。我的第一号作品。它是这样的：

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

我把这幅杰作拿给大人们看，我问他们这幅画是不是叫他们害怕。

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

他们回答我说：“可怕？一顶帽子有什么可怕的？”

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.

我画的根本不是帽子，是一条正在消化大象的蟒蛇。

But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly.

但是大人们看不懂，于是我又画了另外一张图：把巨蟒肚子里的情况画了出来，这样大人们就能看清楚了。

They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

大人总是需要解释。所以，我的第二号作品是这样的：

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

大人们劝我把这些画着开着肚皮的，或者合着肚皮的蟒蛇的图画放在一边，还是把兴趣放在地理、历史、算术、语法上。

That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter.

就这样，在六岁的那年，我放弃了画家这一美好的职业。

I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

第一号和第二号作品的不成功使我沮丧。这些大人们，靠他们自己什么也弄不懂，还老是让孩子们不断给他们解释，真是让孩子们感到很烦。

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes.

所以后来，我选择了另外一个职业，我学会了开飞机。

I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

我几乎飞遍了世界各地。的确，地理学帮了我很大的忙。我一眼就能分辨出中国和（美国）亚里桑那。要是在夜里迷失了航向，这些知识很有用的。

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

在我的生活中，我跟许多严肃认真的人有过很多的接触。

I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

我在大人们中间生活过很长时间。我仔细地观察过他们，但这并没有改变我对他们的看法。

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept.

当我遇到一个头脑看起来稍微清楚的大人时，我就拿出一直保存着的第一号作品来测试他。

I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:

我想知道他是否真的能理解这幅画。可是，他或者她，给我的回答总是： 

"That is a hat."

“这是顶帽子。”

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars.

然后，我就不和他讨论巨蟒、原始森林、或者星星之类的事。

I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

我只得迁就他/她的水平，和他们谈谈桥牌、高尔夫球、政治、领带这些东西。于是大人们就十分高兴能认识我这样一个通情达理的人。