08.The little prince

I soon learned more about this flower. On the little prince's planet, there used to grow a
some very simple flowers with only one layer of petals. These flowers were very small, didn't take up any space and never bothered anyone.
They never bothered anyone. They opened in the morning in the grass and faded in the evening. A seed comes from somewhere.
Suddenly one day this seed sprouted. The little prince watched this unusual seedling with particular care: this plaything
might be a new kind of baobab. But the seedling soon stopped growing and began to produce a
flower. Seeing a very, very large bud growing on this seedling, the little prince felt that from this bud
from which a miracle must appear. The flower, however, hid in its green room and spent a long time
dress herself. She chose her future colours with care, decorated them slowly, matching her petals one by one.
She does not want to be wrinkled as soon as she is born, like the Yucca. She wanted to come into the world with a gloriously beautiful
She wants to come into the world with a radiant beauty. Yes, she is very fetching. She spends many, many days in her fairy-like make-up. Then
Then, one morning, just as the sun was rising, she opened up.
She had done such a long and delicate job of preparation, but she yawned and said.
"I've just woken up, I'm sorry, but my hair is still in a mess..."
The young prince could no longer contain his admiration: "How beautiful you are!
"How beautiful you are!"
And the flower said, "Yes.
"Yes, I was born at the same time as the sun..."
The little prince could see that the flower was not very modest, but she was indeed beautiful.
She then said, "It is time for breakfast, so please think of preparing some for me too..."
The little prince was a little embarrassed, so he took a spray can and drew a jug of cool, clear water and watered the
the flower.
And so the flower tormented the little prince with her somewhat sensitive and suspicious vanity. For example
for example, one day she told the little prince about the four thorns growing on her body: the
"Tiger, let it come with its claws open!"
The little prince contradicted her: "There are no tigers on my planet and, besides, tigers don't eat grass".
The flower whispered, "I am not grass."
"I'm so sorry."
"I'm not afraid of any tigers, but I hate through the wind. You don't have a screen?"
The little prince mused, "Hate windbreaks... that's bad luck for a plant, this flower is
It's not very well served..."
"You have to keep me safe at night. It's too cold in your place. It's not good to live here, where I used to live...
place..."
But she didn't say any more. She had come as a seed. She had never seen any other world. She called people
find that she was putting together such a not very clever lie, and she coughed a little in shame. This one of her
trick was to put the young prince in the position of having a fault, and she said
"Where is the screen?"
"I'm going to get it. But what you just said was..."
So the flower let go of her voice and coughed a few times, still trying to make the little prince regret his transgression.
Although the young prince had sincerely liked the flower, this came to make him immediately suspicious of her.
The young prince was suspicious of the flower. The little prince took some irrelevant words too seriously and ended up distressing himself.
One day he told me: "I shouldn't have listened to her, I should never have listened to the flowers.
Just look at the flower and smell it. The flower that I have makes my planet smell good, but I don't enjoy it. About the old
tiger's paw, which should make me sympathetic, annoys me instead..."
He also told me: "I didn't know anything then! I should have judged her by her actions, not by her words. She made my life so colourful that I should never have left her and run away. I should have guessed the warmth hidden behind her loving gestures. How contradictory flowers are! I was too young to know how to love her."
译文：
很快我就进一步了解了这朵花儿。在小王子的星球上，过去一直都生长着一
些只有一层花瓣的很简单的花。这些花非常小，一点也不占地方，从来也不会去
打搅任何人。她们早晨在草丛中开放，晚上就凋谢了。不知从哪里来了一颗种子，
忽然一天这种子发了芽。小王子特别仔细地监视着这棵与众不同的小苗：这玩艺
说不定是一种新的猴面包树。但是，这小苗不久就不再长了，而且开始孕育着一
个花朵。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。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。她精心选择着她将来的颜色，慢慢腾腾地妆饰着，一片片地搭配着她
的花瓣，她不愿象虞美人那样一出世就满脸皱纹。她要让自己带着光艳夺目的丽
姿来到世间。是的，她是非常爱俏的。她用好些好些日子天仙般地梳妆打扮。然
后，在一天的早晨，恰好在太阳升起的时候，她开放了。
她已经精细地做了那么长的准备工作，却打着哈欠说道：
“我刚刚睡醒，真对不起，瞧我的头发还是乱蓬蓬的⋯”
小王子这时再也控制不住自己的爱慕心情：
“你是多么美丽啊！”
花儿悠然自得地说：
“是吧，我是与太阳同时出生的⋯”
小王子看出了这花儿不太谦虚，可是她确实丽姿动人。
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⋯”
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。
于是，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。例
如，有一天，她向小王子讲起她身上长的四根刺：
“老虎，让它张着爪子来吧！”
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”。
花儿轻声说道：“我并不是草。”
“真对不起。”
“我并不怕什么老虎，可我讨厌穿堂风。你没有屏风？”
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
不大好伺候⋯”
“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⋯”
但她没有说下去。她来的时候是粒种子。她哪里见过什么别的世界。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
招是要小王子处于有过失的地位，她说道：
“屏风呢？”
“我这就去拿。可你刚才说的是⋯”
于是花儿放开嗓门咳嗽了几声，依然要使小王子后悔自己的过失。
尽管小王子本来诚心诚意地喜欢这朵花，可是，这一来，却使他马上对她产
生了怀疑。小王子对一些无关紧要的话看得太认真，结果使自己很苦恼。
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。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⋯”
他还告诉我说：“我那时什么也不懂！我应该根据她的行为，而不是根据她的话来判断她。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。花是多么自相矛盾！我当时太年青，还不懂得爱她。”