小王子28 文本已添加

§ 28

§ thelittle prince encounters a railway switchman

§ 小王子遇上一个火车扳道工

§ “Goodmorning,” said the little prince. “Good morning,” said the railway switchman.“What do you do here?” the little prince asked. “I sort out travelers, in bundles[ˈbʌndl]一批 ofa thousand," said the switchman. "I send off the trains that carrythem; now to the right, now to the left."

§ “你好。”小王子说道。“你好。”扳道工说道。“你在这里做什么？”小王子问。“我一包包地分选旅客，按每千人一包。”扳道工说，“我打发这些运载旅客的列车，一会儿发往右方，一会儿发往左方。”

§ And a brilliantly灿烂地 lighted express train shook theswitchman‘s cabin as it rushed by with a roar like thunder. “They are in a greathurry,” said the little prince. “What are they looking for?” “Not even the locomotive[ˌloʊkəˈmoʊtɪv]火车头 engineer knowsthat," said the switchman.

§ 这时，一列灯火明亮的快车，雷鸣般地响着，把扳道房震得颤颤悠悠。“他们真匆忙呀，”小王子说，“他们要寻找什么？”“开机车的人自己也不知道。”扳道工说道。

§ 　And a second brilliantly lighted express thundered by, in theopposite direction. “Are they coming back already?” demanded the little prince.“These are not the same ones,” said the switchman. “It is an exchange互换." "Were they not satisfied where they were?" askedthe little prince. "No one is ever satisfied where he is," said theswitchman.

§ 于是，第二列灯火通明的快车又朝着相反的方向轰隆轰隆地开过去。“他们怎么又回来了呢？”小王子问道。“他们不是原来那些人了。”扳道工说，“这是一次对开列车。”“他们不满意他们原来所住的地方吗？”“人们是从来也不会满意自己所在的地方的。”扳道工说。

§ 　 And they heard the roaring thunder of a third brilliantly lightedexpress. "Are they pursuing the first travelers?" demanded the littleprince. "They are pursuing nothing at all," said the switchman."They are asleep in there, or if they are not asleep they are yawning.Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes.""Only the children know what they are looking for," said the littleprince. "They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes veryimportant to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry...""They are lucky," the switchman said.

§ 此时，第三趟灯火明亮的快车又隆隆而过。“他们是在追随第一批旅客吗？”小王子问道。“他们什么也不追随。”扳道工说，“他们在里面睡觉，或是在打哈欠。只有孩子们把鼻子贴在玻璃窗上往外看。”“只有孩子知道他们自己在寻找什么。”小王子说，“他们为一个布娃娃花费不少时间，这个布娃娃就成了很重要的东西，如果有人夺走的他们的布娃娃，他们就哭泣…”“他们真幸运。”扳道工说。

§ thelittle prince encounters a merchant

§ 小王子遇上一个商人

§ "Goodmorning," said the little prince. "Good morning," said themerchant.
This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. Youneed only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need of anything todrink.

§ “你好。”小王子说。“你好。”商人说道。这是一位贩卖能够止渴的精制药丸的商人。每周吞服一丸就不会感觉口渴。

§ “Whyare you selling those?” asked the little prince. “Because they save atremendous amount of time,” said the merchant. “Computations [ˌkɑmpjuˈteɪʃn]计算 have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes inevery week." "And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?""Anything you like..." "As for me," said the little princeto himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I shouldwalk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.“

§ “你为什么卖这玩艺儿？”小王子说。“这就大大地节约了时间。”商人说，“专家们计算过，这样，每周可以节约五十三分钟。”“那么，用这五十三分钟做什么用？”“随便怎么用都行。…”小王子自言自语地说：“我如果有五十三分钟可支配，我就悠哉游哉地向水泉走去…”

§ thenarrator and the little prince, thirsty, hunt for a well in the desert

§ 讲故事的人和小王子，很渴，在沙漠中寻找一口井

§ It wasnow the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I hadlistened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of mywater supply.

§ 这是我在沙漠上出了事故的第八天。我听着有关这个商人的故事，喝完了我所备用的最后一滴水。

§ "Ah,"I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming;but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more todrink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward aspring of fresh water!"

§ “啊！”我对小王子说，“你回忆的这些故事真美。可是，我还没有修好我的飞机。我没有喝的了，假如我能悠哉游哉地走到水泉边去，我一定也会很高兴的！”