小王子第24章

It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply.

这是我的飞机在沙漠上失事的第八天，我听着这个商人的故事，喝完了我储备的最后一滴水。

"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 to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!"

“啊！”我对小王子说，“你讲的这些故事是很有趣，可我还没有修好我的飞机。我的水已经喝完了，如果我能慢悠悠的走向一汪清泉，我也会很高兴的！”

"My friend the fox--" the little prince said to me.

“我的那只狐狸朋友……”小王子对我说。

"My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!"

“我的小家伙，现在还关狐狸什么事儿呀！”

"Why not?"

“怎么了？”

"Because I am about to die of thirst…"

“因为我快被渴死了。”

He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me:

他没有听懂我的意思，而是回答道：

"It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend..."

“即使快要死去，有过一个朋友也是好的。我就很高兴有过一位狐狸朋友……”

"He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..."

“他根本不知道现在有多危险。”我心里想，“他从来不会感到饥饿或者口渴，它需要的只是一点点阳光……”

But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought:但他却看着我，对我的想法回答道：

"I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..."

“我也感到口渴了……我们去找一口井吧……”

I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.

我做了个无可奈何的手势，在一望无际的沙漠里，盲目的去寻找水井这太荒唐了。不过我们还是出发了。

When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:

我们在沉默中艰难地跋涉了几个小时，夜幕逐渐降临，星星开始闪烁。由于口渴，我有些发烧，我看着这些星星好像自己在做梦一样。小王子的话，在我脑海里回荡。

"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded.

“这么说你也渴了吗？”我问他。

But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:

但他没有回答我的问题。只是对我说：

"Water may also be good for the heart..."

“水对心灵也是有好处的……”

I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.

我没有听懂这句话，但我什么也没说……我知道不应该再去追问他。

He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again:

他累了，坐了下来，我也在他身旁坐下。我们沉默了片刻，他接着又说：

"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen."

“星星很美，因为有一朵我们看不见的花……”

I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.

我回答道：“是呀。”我没有再说什么，只是望着月光下的沙丘绵延起伏。

"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.

“沙漠也很美。”小王子接着又说。

And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...

这话没错，我一直很喜欢沙漠，一个人坐在沙丘上，什么也看不见，什么也听不见。却有着什么东西在闪烁着，绽放着光芒……

"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."

“沙漠如此美丽”，小王子说“是因为在某个地方藏着一口水井……”

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart...

我突然意识到了沙漠的神秘的光芒，意味着什么。当我还是个小男孩的时候，我住在一座老房子里，传说这座房子中埋藏着宝藏。当然从来没有人找到过宝藏，也许根本就没有人去寻找过。但它却让这座房子充满了神奇的魅力。我家的房子在它心灵深处隐藏着一个秘密……

"Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert-- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"

“是的”，我对小王子说：“无论是房子、星星还是沙漠，她们的美都是因为某些看不见的东西！”

"I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox."

“我很高兴，”他说，“你和我的狐狸的看法一样。”

As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible..."

小王子睡着了，我把他抱在怀里继续向前走。我的内心被深深地打动了，我仿佛抱着一件易碎的珍宝，一件地球上最脆弱的珍宝。月光下，我看着他苍白的额头，紧闭的双眼，以及那随风飘动的缕缕头发，我对自己说：“我看到的只不过是一具躯壳，真正重要的东西，用眼睛是看不见的……”

As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: "What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind...

看到他的嘴唇微微张开，像是在微笑，我又对自己说。“这个熟睡的小王子如此打动我，是因为他对一朵花的忠诚，即使是在她睡着的时候，这朵玫瑰也像是一盏灯的光照亮了他的生命……”想到这里，我更觉得他脆弱了，觉得他需要我的保护，他就像一簇火苗，一阵微风，就能把它吹灭……

And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak.

就这样，我一直走着，黎明时分终于找到了水井。