15.The little prince

The sixth planet is ten times larger. On it lived an old gentleman who was writing a large book.
"Look! Here comes an explorer." The old gentleman called out when he saw the little prince.
The little prince sat down at the table, a little out of breath. How far he had run!
"Where have you come from?" The old gentleman asked the little prince.
"What is this big book? What are you doing here?" The little prince asked.
"I am a geographer." The old gentleman replied.
"What is a geographer?"
"A geographer is a kind of scholar who knows where there are seas and oceans, rivers, cities, mountains, and
deserts."
"That's interesting." The young prince said. "That's a real kind of trade." He looked around
looked at the geographer's planet. He had never seen a planet so magnificent.
"What a beautiful planet you have. Are there any oceans on it?"
"I can't know." The geographer said.
"Ah!" The young prince was greatly disappointed. "Well, what about mountains?"
"That, I can't know." The geographer said.
"Well, are there cities, rivers, deserts?"
"That, too, I cannot know." The geographer said.
"But you are still a geographer!"
"Not bad at all," said the geographer, "but I am not a scout. I don't have a single scout under me.
I have none. Geographers don't count cities, rivers, mountains, oceans, deserts. Geographers are important and
He can't run around. He can't leave his office. But he can receive spotters in his office. He asks
the spotters and writes down their recollections. If he finds the recollections of one of the spotters interesting, the
then the geographer makes an inquiry into the character of that scout."
"And why is that?"
"Because an explorer who tells lies can have disastrous consequences for a geography book. Likewise, a scout who is too fond of
a scout who drinks is the same."
"And why is that?" The young prince said.
"Because a drunken man sees one as two, then the geographer will see only one mountain in the
place as two mountains."
"I know a man who is likely to be a bad scout if he is engaged in scouting." The young prince
Son said.
"That is possible. Therefore, if the scout is of good character, investigate his findings."
"Go and have a look?"
"No. That's too complicated. But ask the spotters to come up with evidence. For example, suppose he discovers a
big mountain, ask him to bring in some big rocks."
The geographer suddenly got busy.
"Just so, you've come from far away! You're a scout! You come and tell me about your planet!"
So the geographer, who had already opened his register, sharpened his pencil. He began by writing down in pencil
the explorer's account, and then waited until the explorer had presented his evidence before noting it down in ink.
"Well?" the geographer enquired.
"Ah! My place," said the little prince, "is not very interesting, it is small. I have three volcanoes.
Two are active and one is extinguished. But it is hard to say."
"It's hard to say." The geographer said.
"I also have a flower."
"We don't keep track of flowers." The geographer said.
"That's why? Flowers are the most beautiful things."
"Because flowers are ephemeral."
"What do you mean by ephemeral?"
"Geography books are the most serious of all books." The geographer said, "These kinds of books never
out of date. It rarely happens that a mountain changes its position, rarely that an ocean dries up. We
want to write about timeless things."
"But an extinguished volcano may also come back to life." The young prince interrupted the geographer. "What do you mean by
short-lived?"
"Whether a volcano is extinguished or awakened, it's all the same thing to us people."
The geographer said, "What matters to us is the mountain. Mountains don't change position."
"But what does 'ephemeral' mean?" The young prince asked again and again. Once he asked a question
was never spared.
"It means: there is a danger that it will soon be gone."
"Is my flower going to disappear soon?"
"Then of course."
The little prince said to himself, "My flower is ephemeral, and she has only four thorns to defend herself against external insults!
But I still leave her alone at home!"
This was the first time he had felt regret, but he regained his composure and said.
"Would you be able to suggest something for me to see?" The young prince asked.
"The planet Earth," the geographer replied to him, "is very prestigious..."
So the little prince went away, thinking of his flowers as he went.
译文：
第六颗行星则要大十倍。上面住着一位老先生，他在写作大部头的书。
“瞧！来了一位探险家。”老先生看到小王子时，叫了起来。
小王子在桌旁坐下，有点气喘吁吁。他跑了多少路啊！
“你从哪里来的呀？”老先生问小王子。
“这一大本是什么书？你在这里干什么？”小王子问道。
“我是地理学家。”老先生答道。
“什么是地理学家？”
“地理学家，就是一种学者，他知道哪里有海洋，哪里有江河、城市、山脉、
沙漠。”
“这倒挺有意思。”小王子说。“这才是一种真正的行当。”他朝四周围看
了看这位地理学家的星球。他还从来没有见过一颗如此壮观的行星。
“您的星球真美呀。上面有海洋吗？”
“这我没法知道。”地理学家说。
“啊！”小王子大失所望。“那么，山脉呢？”
“这，我没法知道。”地理学家说。
“那么，有城市、河流、沙漠吗？”
“这，我也没法知道。”地理学家说。
“可您还是地理学家呢！”
“一点不错，”地理学家说，“但是我不是探察家。我手下一个探察家都没
有。地理学家是不去计算城市、河流、山脉、海洋、沙漠的。地理学家很重要，
不能到处跑。他不能离开他的办公室。但他可以在办公室里接见探察家。他询问
探察家，把他们的回忆记录下来。如果他认为其中有个探察家的回忆是有意思的，
那么地理学家就对这个探察家的品德做一番调查。”
“这是为什么呢？”
“因为一个说假话的探察家会给地理书带来灾难性的后果。同样，一个太爱
喝酒的探察家也是如此。”
“这又是为什么？”小王子说。
“因为喝醉了酒的人把一个看成两个，那么，地理学家就会把只有一座山的
地方写成两座山。”
“我认识一个人，他要是搞探察的话，就很可能是个不好的探察员。”小王
子说。
“这是可能的。因此，如果探察家的品德不错，就对他的发现进行调查。”
“去看一看吗？”
“不。那太复杂了。但是要求探察家提出证据来。例如，假使他发现了一座
大山，就要求他带来一些大石头。”
地理学家忽然忙乱起来。
“正好，你是从老远来的么！你是个探察家！你来给我介绍一下你的星球吧！”
于是，已经打开登记簿的地理学家，削起他的铅笔来。他首先是用铅笔记下
探察家的叙述，等到探察家提出了证据以后再用墨水笔记下来。
“怎么样？”地理学家询问道。
“啊！我那里，”小王子说道，“没有多大意思，那儿很小。我有三座火山，
两座是活的，一座是熄灭了的。但是也很难说。”
“很难说。”地理学家说道。
“我还有一朵花。”
“我们是不记载花卉的。”地理学家说。
“这是为什么？花是最美丽的东西。”
“因为花卉是短暂的。”
“什么叫短暂？”
“地理学书籍是所有书中最严肃的书。”地理学家说道，“这类书是从不会
过时的。很少会发生一座山变换了位置，很少会出现一个海洋干涸的现象。我们
要写永恒的东西。”
“但是熄灭的火山也可能会再复苏的。”小王子打断了地理学家。“什么叫
短暂？”
“火山是熄灭了的也好，苏醒的也好，这对我们这些人来讲都是一回事。”
地理学家说，“对我们来说，重要的是山。山是不会变换位置的。”
“但是，‘短暂’是什么意思？”小王子再三地问道。他一旦提出一个问题
是从不放过的。
“意思就是：有很快就会消失的危险。”
“我的花是很快就会消失的吗？”
“那当然。”
小王子自言自语地说：“我的花是短暂的，而且她只有四根刺来防御外侮！
可我还把她独自留在家里！”
这是他第一次产生了后悔，但他又重新振作起来：
“您是否能建议我去看些什么？”小王子问道。
“地球这颗行星，”地理学家回答他说，“它的名望很高⋯”
于是小王子就走了，他一边走一边想着他的花。