The Little Prince Chapter 8

The Little Prince Chapter 8

I soon learned to know this flower better.

很快，我就对这朵花有了更深的了解。

On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody.

在小王子的星球上，过去长出来的花一直都很简单。花瓣非常小，一点也不占地方，也不会妨碍到别人。

On morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away.

她们早晨在草丛中开放，傍晚就安静地凋谢了。

But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.

可是有一天，不知从哪里来了一颗种子，忽然就发芽了。小王子特别仔细地监视着这棵与众不同的小苗：这东西说不定是猴面包树的新品种吧。

The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower.

但是，这小苗不久就不再长了，而且开始孕育着一个花朵。

The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it.

小王子看到花苞这么大，感觉到从这个花苞中一定会有奇迹。

But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.

然而这朵花藏在它那绿茵茵的房间中，用了很长的时间来打扮自己。

She chose her colours with the greatest care. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies.

她精心挑选着颜色，一片片搭配着她的花瓣，她不愿像虞美人那样，一出生就满脸皱纹。

It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.

她要让自己带着光艳夺目的风姿来到世间。是的，她就是这么爱美。她神神秘秘地打扮了很多很多天。

Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

终于，在某天清晨，她绽开了花朵。

And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:

她已经精心准备了这么久，却打着哈欠说道：

"Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged…"

“我刚刚睡醒，真对不起，瞧我的花瓣还是乱蓬蓬的……”

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

但是，小王子却情不自禁地称赞道：

"Oh! How beautiful you are!"

“你是多么美丽啊！”

"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun…"

花儿悠然自得地说：“是吧，而且我出生的时候，太阳正好……”

The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest——but how moving——and exciting——she was!

小王子看出了这花儿不太谦虚，可是她确实可爱动人。

"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs——"

她随后又说道：“现在该是吃早饭的时候了吧，请你也想着给我准备一点……”

And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower.

小王子很有些不好意思，于是就拿着喷壶，打来了一壶清清的凉水，浇着花儿。

So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity——which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.

就这样，这朵花儿就以她那有点敏感多疑的虚荣心折磨着小王子——这确实有点难对付。

One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:

例如，有一天，她向小王子讲起她身上长的四根刺：

"Let the tigers come with their claws!"

“老虎，让它张着爪子来吧！”

"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds."

小王子反驳说：“在我这个星球上没有老虎，而且，老虎是不会吃草的”。

"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.

花儿轻声说道：“我并不是草。

"Please excuse me…"

“真对不起。”

"I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?"

“我并不怕什么老虎，可我讨厌穿堂风。你有没有屏风？”

"A horror of drafts——that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature…"

小王子心里想：“讨厌穿堂风……这对一株植物来说太不幸了，这朵花的心思真让人难懂啊……”

"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from——"

“晚上您得把我保护好。你这地方太冷，在这里住得不好，我原来住的那个地方……”

But she interrupted herself at that point.

但她没有说下去。

She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

她来的时候是粒种子，哪里见过什么别的世界。这么幼稚的谎话差点就被当场揭穿。她感到羞愧不已，假装咳嗽了两三声，顺势怪罪起了小王子，她说道： 

"The screen?"

“屏风呢？”

"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me…"

“我本来要去找的，可是你正在跟我说话......”

Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.

于是花儿放开嗓门咳嗽了几声，想让小王子感到自责。

So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her. He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.

尽管小王子本来诚心诚意地喜欢这朵花，可是这一来，却使他对她产生了怀疑。小王子对一些无关紧要的话看得太认真，结果自己很苦恼。

"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.

有一天他告诉我说：“我不该听信她的话，绝不该听信那些花儿的话，看看花，闻闻它就得了。

Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

我的那朵花使我的星球芳香四溢，可我不会享受它。关于老虎爪子的事，本应该使我产生同情，却反而使我恼火……”

And he continued his confidences:

他还告诉我说：

"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words.

“我那时什么也不懂！我应该看她的行为，而不是根据她的话来判断她。

She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her… I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems.

她使我的生活芬芳多彩，我真不该离开她跑出来。我本应该猜出在她那令人爱怜的花招后面所隐藏的温情。

Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her…"

花儿总是那样口是心非！我当时太年轻，还不懂得如何去爱她......”