小王子Chapter5-1

As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince's planet, his departure from it, his journey.
The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts.
It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.
This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly—as if seized by a grave doubt—“It is true, isn't it, that sheep eat little bushes?”
“Yes, that is true.”“Ah! I am glad!”
I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:
“Then it follows that they also eat baobabs?”
I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.
The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.“We would have to put them one on top of the other,” he said.
But he made a wise comment:
“Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little.”“That is strictly correct,” I said. “But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?”
He answered me at once, “Oh, come, come!”, as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.
Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived—as on all planets—good plants and bad plants.
In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible.
They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness, until someone among them is seized with the desire to awaken.
Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin —timidly at first—to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun.
If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish.
But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
随着日子一天天过去，我逐渐了解到关于小王子的行星的一些事，他离开了星球，还有关于他的旅行，这些都是偶然从各种反应中慢慢得到的。我也逐渐了解到，第三天，将是猴面包树的灾难……
这一次，我代表羊感谢面包树。
有一次小王子突然问我：“羊会吃小的灌木，这是真的，是吗？”
“是的，这是真的”“噢～，我很开心”
但我不知道为什么羊应该吃灌木的重要性。
小王子补充道：“然后它们也会吃猴面包树？”我告诉小王子猴面包树不是小灌木，相反，它们有城堡那么大，它能容纳整个象群，象群都不能吃光一棵猴面包树
小王子笑话我用象群来比喻
“我们将把羊群用到另一个上面”随即他做出了一个明智的结论：“在猴面包树还没长大之前，它们也只不过是小树而已”
“那完全正确”我说，“但是你为什么要让羊来吃猴面包树呢？”他立刻回答我“噢，过来，过来”，好像他说的是不言而喻似的。而我必须费力地思考着，去解决这个问题，在没有助手的情况下。
这时候，我才真正地了解到，在小王子居住的行星上，长满了好的和坏的植物。我得出一个结论，好的植物有好的种子，坏的植物也有坏的种子，但它们是看不见的，它们沉睡在地球的黑暗深处，直到它们渴望被唤醒。接着，这些种子自己将伸长和开始--第一次羞怯的--去舒展娇艳的、幼嫩的蔓，人畜无害地向上，面朝着太阳。如果她仅仅是小萝卜的芽或是玫瑰花丛的蔓，任何人都会让她在想要生长的地方生长。但如果它是棵坏的植物，在它们被认出的瞬间，任何人都会尽可能地破坏它。