小王子 第15期:螺絲的煩惱

On the fifth day again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep–the secret of the little prince's life was revealed to me.

第五天，還是羊的事，把小王子的生活秘密向我揭開了。

Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:

好象默默地思索了很長時(shí)間以后，得出了什么結(jié)果一樣，他突然沒頭沒腦地問我：

A sheep–if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too?

羊，要是吃小灌木，它也要吃花羅?

"A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach."

“它碰到什么吃什么”，我說。

Even flowers that have thorns?

連有刺的花也吃嗎?

Yes, even flowers that have thorns.

有刺的也吃!

Then the thorns–what use are they?

那么刺有什么用呢?

I did not know.

我不知道該怎么回答。

At that moment, I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine.

那會(huì)兒我正忙著要從發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)上卸下一顆擰得太緊的螺絲。

I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious.

心里很著急，我發(fā)現(xiàn)機(jī)器故障似乎很嚴(yán)重，

And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.

飲水也快完了，擔(dān)心可能發(fā)生最壞的情況，

The thorns–what use are they?

那么刺有什么用呢?

The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it.

小王子一旦提出了問題，從來不會(huì)放過。

As for me, I was upset over that bolt.

這個(gè)該死的螺絲使我很惱火，

And I answered with the first thing that came into my head: "The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!"

我于是就隨便回答了他一句：“刺么，什么用都沒有，這純粹是花的惡劣表現(xiàn)。”

Oh!

噢!

There was a moment of complete silence.

可是他沉默了一會(huì)兒之后，

Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness: "I don't believe you!"

懷著不滿的心情沖我說：“我不信!”

Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive. They reassure themselves as best they can.

花是弱小的、淳樸的，它們總是設(shè)法保護(hù)自己，

They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons.

以為有了刺就可以顯出自己的厲害。

I did not answer.

我默不作聲。

At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won't turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer."

我當(dāng)時(shí)想的，“如果這個(gè)螺絲再和我作對(duì)，我就一錘子敲掉它。”

Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

小王子又來打攪我的思緒了。

And you actually believe that the flowers,

你卻認(rèn)為花…

"Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no no! I don't believe anything."

“嗷，不，”我哭著說，“算了吧，算了吧!我什么也不認(rèn)為!”

I answered you with the first thing that came into my head.

我是隨便回答你的。

Don't you see–I am very busy with matters of consequence!

我可有正經(jīng)事要做。