The Little Prince Chapter 3

It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.

我花了好长时间才弄清楚他是从哪里来的。小王子问了我很多问题，可是对于那些我提出了的问题，他好像压根没听见一样。还是他无意中吐露的一些话，才渐渐让我了解了他。

The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me: "What is that object?"

当他第一次看见我的飞机时（我就不画出我的飞机了， 因为这种图画对我来说太复杂），他问我：“这是什么东西？”

"That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane."

“这不是个‘东西’。它能飞。这是飞机，是我的飞机。”

And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.

我很得意地告诉他我能飞。

He cried out, then: "What! You dropped down from the sky?"

于是他惊奇地说道：“怎么？你是从天上掉下来的？”

"Yes," I answered, modestly.

“是的，”我谦逊地答道。

"Oh! That is funny!"

“啊？这可真好玩儿！”

And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.

此时小王子发出一阵清脆的笑声。这使我很不高兴。我要求别人严肃地看待我的不幸。

Then he added: "So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?"

然后，他又说道：“那么，你也是从天上来的啦！你来自哪个星球呢？”

At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:

对于他是从哪里来的这个秘密，我隐约发现到了一点线索；于是，我就突然问道：

"Do you come from another planet?"

“你是从其它星球上来的吗？”

But he did not reply. He tossed his head gently, without taking his eyes from my plane:

可是他不回答我的问题。他一面看着我的飞机，一面微微地点点头，接着说道：

"It is true that on that you can't have come from very far away…"

“也是，就靠这个东西，你不可能是从很远的地方来的……”

And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.

说到这里，他就长时间地陷入沉思。然后，从口袋里掏出了我画的小羊， 看着他的宝贝入了神。

You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the "other planets." I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.

你们可以想象，这种关于“其它星球”的、含糊的话让我多么好奇。 因此我竭力地想知道其中更多的奥秘。

"My little man, where do you come from? What is this 'where I live,' of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?"

“你是从哪里来的，我的小家伙？你说的‘我住的地方’是哪里？你要把我的小羊带到哪里去？”

After a reflective silence he answered: "The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house."

他沉思了一会，然后说：“好在有你给我的那只箱子，夜晚可以给小羊当房子用。”

"That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to."

“那当然。如果你听话的话，我再给你画一根绳子，白天可以栓住它。我还能给你画一个木桩。”

But the little prince seemed shocked by this offer:

我的建议看来让小王子有点震惊。

"Tie him! What a queer idea!"

“栓住它！这个想法太奇怪了！”

"But if you don't tie him," I said, " he will wander off somewhere, and get lost."

“如果你不栓住它，它就到处跑，那么它会跑丢的。”

My friend broke into another peal of laughter: "But where do you think he would go?"

我的这位朋友又笑出了声： “你想要它跑到哪里去呀？”

"Anywhere. Straight ahead of him."

“随便哪儿。它会一直往前跑……”

Then the little prince said, earnestly: "That doesn't matter. Where I live, everything is so small!"

这时，小王子一本正经地说：“这没有什么关系，在我那里，所有东西都很小很小。”

And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:"Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far…"

接着，他略带伤感地又补充了一句：“就算一直往前走，也不会走出多远……”