Chapter 8 / 美中不足

I soon learned to know this flower better. 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 of nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away. 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.

我很快就对这棵花有了更多的了解。小王子星球上的花一直都很简单，只有一圈花瓣。这些花一点也不占地方，也从不找麻烦。它们在某个早晨的草丛中开放，晚上就悄悄地凋谢了。但有一天，从一个不知从哪里吹来的种子里，长出了一颗花。小王子一直密切注意着这棵花苗，与其它的小苗不太一样。你知道，它有可能是一种新的猴面包树！

The shrub soon stopped growing, and began get ready to produce a flower. 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. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparation for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colors with the greatest care. She adjusted her pedals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. 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.

这颗花苗很快就不再长高了，开始孕育花朵。小王子亲眼见证了一个硕大花苞的出现，马上预感到一个奇迹即将出现。但这棵花并不打算就这样在她的绿色闺房里草草装扮了事。她精心挑选颜色，一片一片地梳理着花瓣。她不愿像虞美人那样皱巴巴地来到这个世界上。她要光彩照人地闪亮登场。哦，是的！她是个风情万种的尤物！一天又一天，她就这样悄悄地打扮着。

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

后来，一天清晨，就在太阳升起的时候，她突然绽放开来。

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

在经过煞费苦心的打扮后，她打了一个哈欠，说到:

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

“啊！我刚刚睡醒 ，不好意思。我的花瓣还都乱糟糟的 ...”

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

但小王子却抑制不住羡慕起来：

"Oh! How beautiful you are!"

“哇！你好漂亮啊！”

"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. " And I was born at the same moment as the sun ..." “可不是嘛！” 花儿调皮地答道，“我是和太阳一起诞生的...” 

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

小王子不难看出，她不太谦虚，不过，她是多么的楚楚动人啊！

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

“是不是该吃早餐了，”随即，她又补充道：“能否麻烦您给我...” 

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

这让小王子觉得很不好意思，马上起身去找来喷壶，开始照料起花来。

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. One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince: 而花儿也开始利用她的虚荣心折磨起他来，说实话，这是个棘手的事儿。例如，有一天，当她提到她身上的四根刺时，对小王子说：

"Let the tigers come with their claws!" 

“让老虎带着它们的利爪来试试吧！”

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

“在我的星球上，没有老虎，”小王子反驳道，“况且，老虎是不吃草的。”

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

“我又不是草喽，”花儿调皮地回应道。

"Please excuse me ..."

“真是对不起...”

"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?"

“我一点儿也不害怕老虎，”她继续说，“但有点怕风。我想你没有为我准备屏风吧？”

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

“怕风？那是太糟了，对于一棵植物来说。” 小王子说到，又自言自语，“这棵花有点复杂...”

"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..."

“到晚上，我想让你把我放进玻璃罩里，你这儿太冷了。在我来的地方 ...”

But she interrupted herself  at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. 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.

说到这里，她突然打住。她来自一粒种子，怎么可能知道世外那么多事情？！为了掩盖被人发现天真无知的尴尬，她咳嗽了几声，好让小王子觉得内疚。

"The screen?"

“那屏风...?"

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

“你刚才跟我说话的时候，我正要去拿呢..."

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

她又故意多咳嗽了几声，好让小王子继续觉得内疚。

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.

于是，尽管小王子是出于爱怜而对她心怀善意，但很快就不再相信她了。他把那些鸡毛蒜皮的事儿太当真了，弄得自己不开心。

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

“我不应该听她的话的，”一天，她向我吐露了心声，“永远不要听信花儿的话。只是观赏一下，闻闻花香就行了。我的那棵花儿就让我整个星球充满花香。可我，却不知道如何去欣赏她的优雅。关于老虎爪子的奇谈，让我很不舒服，而这事儿原本应该使我满怀怜悯之心。”

And he continued his confidence:

他继续说道：

"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. 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 the poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her ..."

“其实，我并不懂如何去理解事物！我应该根据人们的行为而不是话语来判断。她给我带来了花香和美丽，我实在是不应该离她远去...我本应该猜到，在她的一些小小花招背后，还有柔情似水。花儿是多么表里不一啊！但我那时太小了，不懂得如何去爱她..."