Chapter 2-双语名著无障碍阅读丛书——《小王子The Little Prince》

2 So I lived my life alone,without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Sahara Desert,six years ago.Something was broken in my engine.And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers,I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone.It was a question of life or death for me:I had scarcely3 enough drinking water to last a week. The first night,then,I went to sleep on the sand,a thousand miles from any human habitation.I was more isolated than a ship-wrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean.Thus you can imagine my amazement,at sunrise,when I was awakened?by an odd little voice. It said, "If you please-draw me a sheep!" “What!" “Draw me a sheep!” I jumped to my feet,completely thunderstruck.I blinked my eyes hard.I looked carefully all around me.And I saw a most extraordinary small person,who stood there examining me with great seriousness0. Here you may see the best portrait that,later,I was able to make of ·008· 2 因此，我一直都是孤零零一个人生活，始终没 有人能够让我一诉衷肠。直到六年前，我驾机失事 ①Sahara Desert.撒哈拉沙 漠（非洲北部大沙漠） 坠落在撒哈拉沙漠。由于飞机引擎发生故障，而 2 mechanic /mr'kaenik/n. 当时我的身旁没有技师，也没有任何乘客，所以我 工，机修工 只能独自着手艰难的修复工作。此刻对我而言，真 3scarcely /skeasl/ad几乎 是生死攸关，因为我的饮用水只能维持不到一个星 不，简直没有 期的时间。 随后，第一个晚上，我就在绵延数千英里、渺 4 habitation /haebi'teifon/n. 居住，生话环境 无人烟的沙子上睡了一觉。这种情境，甚至比发生 5shipwreck'fiprek/n船只 失事，海难 海难时，一名水手乘坐救生艇在汪洋大海中漂荡还 amazement /'meizmant/n. 要孤立无援。因此你肯定想象得出翌日清晨，当我 惊愕，惊异 ⑦waken /a'weikan/比唤醒， 被一阵奇怪又微弱的声音惊醒时的愕然之色。那声 醒来 音说： “你能一给我画一只绵羊吗？” “什么！” 8 thunderstruke 0 Andastrak/a大吃一惊 “给我画一只绵羊！” 的 我惊恐万分地跳起来。我使劲眨了眨眼睛，小 9 extraordinary ks'tro:dnr/a.非同寻常 心地环视我的周围。然后我看见一个身材特别矮小 的，特别的 00 seriousness /sioriasnis/n. 的人站在那里，认真地打量着我。以下就是我为他 严肃，认真 画的一幅最传神的肖像，但他本人比画中人还要可 00g The Little Prince him.But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model. That,however,is not my fault.The grown-ups discouraged?me in my painter's career when I was six years old,and I never learned to draw anything,except boas from the outside and boas from the inside Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairlystarting out of my head in astonishment.Remember,I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region.And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying 5 uncertainly among the sand,nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear.Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert,a thousand miles from any human habitation.When at last I was able to speak,I said to him, "But-what are you doing here?" And in answer he repeated,very slowly,as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence, “If you please-draw me a sheep..” When a mystery is too overpowering,one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me,a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death,I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain-pen.But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography,history,arithmetic and grammar, and I told the little chap (a little crossly,too)that I did not know how to draw.He answered me, “That doesn't matter.Draw me a sheep..” But I had never drawn a sheep.So I drew for him one of the two ·010· 小王子 ①charming'tfa:mig/a.迷 爱许多。 人的，娇媚的 可是，这件事并不能怪我。 2discourage /dis'kArid3/v. 在我六岁的时候，大人们就劝 使气馁，阻碍 阻我以绘画为生的念头，所以 除了那两张看不见和看得见大 3 apparition /aepa'rifon/n. 蟒蛇里面的画之外，我再也没 景，幻象：幽灵 有动手画过任何画了。 ④fairly /feal/ad.完全地， 简直 此刻，我惊愕地凝视着这个突然出现的幽灵， ⑤sray/stre/走失，迷路 眼珠都快掉出来了。别忘了，我当时正处于几千英 看fatigue/f3tig/m,疲意，劳 里内人烟罕见的沙漠之中。而这个小家伙看起来不 累 像是在沙漠中走丢了，也不像有因疲急、饥渴及害 怕而将昏厥的迹象。在他的身上找不到一丝一毫像 是一个小孩子在渺无人烟的沙漠中迷路的迹象。等 我终于定下神来便问他： “你—你在这里做什么呢？” 他仍只是很缓慢地重述刚才说过的话，以一种 7consequence /'konsikwans/ 重要（性），重大 郑重其事的语气说： overpowering “请你一给我画一只绵羊…” /auv3'panr1g/a.无法抵 抗的，压倒性的 由于事出突然，且神奇得让人无从思索，我 fountain-pen钢笔 不敢不应允。对我来说，这事可真是荒谬，身置 )crossly /'krosl/ad恼火地 千里之外、杳无人烟的荒漠，又饱受死亡的威 胁，我竟然还能从容不迫地从口袋里拿出一张纸 和钢笔。但是，我却想起自己曾如何倾注于地 理、历史、数学及语法上，于是我就告诉这个小 家伙（也有点恼火地）说，我不会画画。他却回 答道： “没关系。只要给我画一只绵羊—” 可以我从来没有画过绵羊。所以，我画了自己 从前经常画的两张中的一幅给他，就是看不见大蟒 O11 The Little Prince pictures I had drawn so often.It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside.And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with "No,no,no!I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor.A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature,and an elephant is very cumbersome2.Where I live,everything is very small.What I need is a sheep.Draw me a sheep." So then I made a drawing. He looked at it carefully,then he said, “No.This sheep is already very sickly③.Make me another.” So I made another drawing. My friend smiled gently and indulgently. “You see yourself,.”he said,“that this is not a sheep.This is a ram⑤. It has horns.” So then I did my drawing over once more. But it was rejected too,just like the others. "This one is too old.I want a sheep that will live a long time." By this time my patience was exhausted,because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart.So I tossed off this drawing. And I threw out an explanation with it. "This is only his box.The sheep you asked for is inside." I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge, "That is exactly the way I wanted it!Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?" “Why?" "Because where I live everything is very small..." ·012· 小王子 蛇里面的那张画。这小家伙看了这画，却做出了令 ①astound/a'staund/g使震 我吃惊的反应： 惊 “不要！不要！不要！我不要肚子里 装着大象的蟒蛇。蟒蛇是一种很危险的 动物，而且大象又大又笨重。我住的地 2cumbersome /'kAmbasam a.笨重的 方，所有的东西都是小小的。我只要一只绵羊。请给 我画一只绵羊吧！” 于是，我只好又画了一只绵羊给 他。 ③sickly/ski/a.有病的 他仔细瞧了瞧这张画，又说： “不，这一只绵羊已经有病了。再画一只给我。” indulgently /in'dAld3antli/ ad宽容地 我只好重新又画了一张。 5tm/rem/n公羊 这一回，我这位小朋友终于展开温 煦、宽容的笑容。他对我说： “你自己瞧一瞧，这只不是绵羊， 而是公山羊，还长着角呢！” ⑥patience /peifans/n耐性， 于是，我只得再画一张。 忍耐力，耐心 ⑦in a hurry to急忙地去做 但是，这张仍然像先前的两张一样不合格。 某事 “这只羊太老了，我要一只能活很久的羊。” 霜toss off敏捷地做好；毫不 这时，我实在已经厌烦不已，因为我急于想办 费力地做出 法拆卸发生故障的引擎，所以随意画了一张，并给 他解释： “这是装羊的箱子。你想要的羊就 ⑨judge /d3ad3/,鉴定人， 在里头。” 鉴赏家 出乎意料，这小小鉴赏家脸上带着喜色说：“这 )a great deal of大量的，非 常多的 就是我想要的！你觉得这只羊需要吃很多的草吗？” “怎么了？” “因为我住的地方，所有的东西都是小小的…” ·013· The Little Prince “There will surely be enough grass for him,”I said.“It is a very small sheep that I have given you." He bent his head over the drawing, "Not so small that-Look!He has gone to sleep..." And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince. ·014· 小王子 “那也够他吃的了，”我说，“我画给你的是一 只很小的绵羊。” 他低下头盯着画瞧： “但是也没有那么小—瞧！他已经睡着了。” acquaintance 这就是我认识小王子时的情形。 kweint3ns/.熟知，认 识 ·015·