Chapter 08 恃宠而骄的花

Chapter 08

I soon learned to know this flower better.

很快我就进一步了解了这朵花儿。

On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple.

在小王子的星球上，花儿一直是很简单的。

They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody.

它们只有一圈花瓣；它们一点也不占地方；它们不是任何人的麻烦。

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

早晨它们在草丛中开放，晚上它们就静静地凋谢了。

But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up.

但是有一天，不知从哪里来了一颗种子，一种新的花到来了。

And the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet.

小王子特别仔细地观察着这棵不同于他的星球上任何小花苗的小苗：

It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.

这东西说不定是一种新的猴面包树。

But 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，而且开始孕育着一朵花。

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.

看到在这棵苗上长出了一个很大很大的花蕾，小王子感觉到从这个花苞中一定会出现一个奇迹。

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一直在不停地准备着自己的美丽。

She chose her colours with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly.

她精心选择着她将来的颜色，慢慢腾腾地妆饰着。

She adjusted her petals one by one.

一片片地搭配着她的花瓣。

She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies.

她不愿像野罂粟那样一出世就满脸皱纹。

It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.

她要让自己带着光艳夺目的丽姿来到世间。

Oh,yes! She was a coquettish creature!

是的，她是非常爱俏的生命。

And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.

她那不可思议的美丽打扮要持续好些好些日子。

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

然后，在一天的早晨，恰好在太阳升起的时候，她开放了。

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

她已经精细地做了那么长的准备工作，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. . ."

“啊！我刚刚睡醒，真对不起，瞧我的头发还是乱蓬蓬的……”

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration: "Oh! How beautiful you are"!

小王子这时再也抑制不住自己的爱慕心情：“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？我是与太阳同时出生的……”

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

小王子可以很容易看出来这花儿不太谦虚，可是她确实丽姿动人。

"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：“现在该是吃早点的时候了吧，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，浇灌着花儿。

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.

于是，就这样，这朵花儿就以她那有点难以应付的虚荣心折磨着小王子。

One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince: "Let the tigers come with their claws"!

例如，有一天，她向小王子讲起她身上长的四根刺：“让老虎张着爪子来吧！”

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

小王子顶了她一句：“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. . ."

“请原谅我……”

"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"?

“我一点都不怕什么老虎，可我讨厌穿堂风。我想你没有屏风给我吧？”

"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. . ."

小王子思忖着：“讨厌穿堂风……这对一株植物来说，真不走运，这朵花儿真是个复杂的生物……”

"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live.

“晚上我要你把我放在玻璃罩下面保护好。你住的这地方太冷。

In the place I came from--" But she interrupted herself at that point.

我原来住的那个地方……”但她没有说下去。

She had come in the form of a seed.

她来的时候是粒种子。

She could not have known anything of any other worlds.

她哪里见过什么别的世界。

Embarrassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

她叫人发现她是在凑一个如此不太高明的谎话，她有点羞怒，咳嗽了两三声，她的这一招是要让小王子处于有过失的地位。

"The screen"?

“屏风呢？”

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

“我刚刚正准备去拿，可你正好跟我说到……”

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

于是花儿强迫自己多咳嗽了几声，依然要使小王子后悔自己的过失。

So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her.

尽管小王子本来诚心诚意地喜欢这朵花，可是，这一来，却使他很快对她产生了怀疑。

He had taken seriously words, which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.

小王子对一些无关紧要的话看得太认真，这使他自己很不开心。

"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day.

有一天他告诉我说：“我本不该听信她的话。

"One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.

一个人绝不该听信那些花儿的话，只需要简单地看看它们，闻闻它们的芬芳就得了。

Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.

我的那朵花使我的星球芳香四溢，可我不会享受它的恩惠。

This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity".

关于老虎爪子的事，本应该使我产生柔情和同情的，却反而使我恼火……”

And he continued his confidences: "The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything!

他继续袒露心扉：“事实上是我不知道怎么样去理解事物！

I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words.

我应该根据她的行为，而不是根据她的话来判断她。

She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me.

她用自己的芬芳和光辉包围了我。

I ought never to have run away from her. . . I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems.

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. .."

花是多么自相矛盾！我当时太年轻，还不懂得爱她。”