I soon learned to know this flower better.On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple.
我很快就学会了更好地了解这朵花。在小王子的星球上，花朵一直非常简单。
They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody.One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away.But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet.It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.
它们只有一圈花瓣；它们根本不占地方；它们不会给任何人带来麻烦。一天早上，它们会出现在草丛中，到了晚上，它们就会平静地凋谢。但是有一天，从一颗不知从哪里吹来的种子，长出了一朵新的花；小王子非常仔细地观察着这个小芽，它不像他星球上的任何其他小芽。你瞧，它可能是一种新型的猴面包树。
The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower.The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it.But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.She chose her colors with the greatest care.She dressed herself slowly.
灌木很快停止了生长，并开始准备开花。小王子，他亲眼目睹了一个巨大花蕾的第一次出现，立刻感觉到某种奇迹般的景象一定会从中显现出来。但是，这朵花不满足于在她绿色房间的庇护下完成她美丽的准备工作。她非常仔细地选择她的颜色。她慢慢地打扮自己。
She adjusted her petals one by one.She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies.It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.Oh, yes!She was a coquettish creature!And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.
她一片一片地调整她的花瓣。她不希望像田野里的罂粟花那样，皱巴巴地进入这个世界。她只希望在她最美丽的光彩中出现。哦，是的！她真是个爱卖弄风情的生物！她那神秘的装饰持续了好几天。
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.
然后有一天早上，正好在日出时分，她突然出现了。
And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:
而且，在以如此一丝不苟的精确度工作之后，她打了个哈欠说：
"Ah!I am scarcely awake.I beg that you will excuse me.
“啊！我几乎还没醒。请您原谅我。
My petals are still all disarranged . . ."
我的花瓣仍然是乱的……”
But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:
但是小王子无法抑制他的赞美：
"Oh! How beautiful you are!"
“哦！你真漂亮！”
"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly."And I was born at the same moment as the sun . . ."
“难道我不漂亮吗？”花儿甜蜜地回答。“而且我和太阳在同一时刻诞生……”
The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest--but how moving--and exciting--she was!
小王子很容易猜到她一点也不谦虚——但她是多么的动人和令人兴奋啊！
"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later.
“我想该吃早餐了，”她立刻补充道。
"If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"
“如果您能好心想想我的需求——”
And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water.So, he tended the flower.
小王子完全窘迫，去找一个装满淡水的喷壶。所以，他照料着那朵花。
So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity--which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:
所以，她也很快就开始以她的虚荣心来折磨他——如果说实话，这有点难以应付。有一天，例如，当她谈到她的四根刺时，她对小王子说：
"Let the tigers come with their claws!"
“让老虎带着它们的爪子来吧！”
"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds."
“我的星球上没有老虎，”小王子反驳道。“而且，无论如何，老虎不吃杂草。”
"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.
“我不是杂草，”花甜蜜地回答。
"Please excuse me . . ."
“请原谅我……”
"I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?"
“我一点也不害怕老虎，”她继续说，“但我非常害怕穿堂风。我想你不会为我准备一个屏风吧？”
"A horror of drafts--that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature . . ."
“害怕穿堂风——这对植物来说是坏运气，”小王子评论道，并对自己补充说，“这朵花真是个复杂的生物……”
"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe.It is very cold where you live.In the place I came from--"
“晚上我想让你把我放在一个玻璃罩下面。你住的地方很冷。在我来的地方——”
But she interrupted herself at that point.She had come in the form of a seed.She could not have known anything of any other worlds.Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong."The screen?"
但她在那个时候打断了自己。她以种子的形式出现。她不可能知道任何其他世界的事情。因为让自己陷入如此天真谎言的边缘而感到尴尬，她咳嗽了两三次，以便让小王子感到内疚。“屏幕？”
"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me . . ."
“我正要去寻找它，那时你跟我说话……”
Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.
然后她更加用力地咳嗽，以便他也同样感到内疚。
So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her.He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.
因此，尽管小王子心中充满了与他的爱密不可分的善意，但他很快就开始怀疑她。他认真对待了那些并不重要的话，这让他非常不快乐。
"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day."One never ought to listen to the flowers.One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.
“我不应该听她的，”有一天他向我倾诉。“人们永远不应该听花的话。人们应该只是看看它们，呼吸它们的芬芳。
Mine perfumed all my planet.But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."
我的花香飘满了我的星球。但我不知道如何欣赏她所有的优雅。这个关于爪子的故事，它如此地困扰着我，本应该仅仅用温柔和怜悯充满我的内心。
And he continued his confidences:
他继续倾诉心事：
"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her . . . I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her . . ."
“事实是我不知道该如何理解任何事情！我本应该通过行动而不是言语来判断。她将芬芳和光芒洒向我。我本不应该逃离她...我本应该猜到她那些可怜的小计谋背后所隐藏的全部爱意。花是如此的善变！但我那时太年轻，不知道该如何爱她……”
I soon learned to know this flower better.On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple.
我很快就学会了更好地了解这朵花。在小王子的星球上，花朵一直非常简单。
They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody.One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away.But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet.It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.
它们只有一圈花瓣；它们根本不占地方；它们不会给任何人带来麻烦。一天早上，它们会出现在草丛中，到了晚上，它们就会平静地凋谢。但是有一天，从一颗不知从哪里吹来的种子，长出了一朵新的花；小王子非常仔细地观察着这个小芽，它不像他星球上的任何其他小芽。你瞧，它可能是一种新型的猴面包树。
The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower.The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it.But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber.She chose her colors with the greatest care.She dressed herself slowly.
灌木很快停止了生长，并开始准备开花。小王子，他亲眼目睹了一个巨大花蕾的第一次出现，立刻感觉到某种奇迹般的景象一定会从中显现出来。但是，这朵花不满足于在她绿色房间的庇护下完成她美丽的准备工作。她非常仔细地选择她的颜色。她慢慢地打扮自己。
She adjusted her petals one by one.She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies.It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear.Oh, yes!She was a coquettish creature!And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.
她一片一片地调整她的花瓣。她不希望像田野里的罂粟花那样，皱巴巴地进入这个世界。她只希望在她最美丽的光彩中出现。哦，是的！她真是个爱卖弄风情的生物！她那神秘的装饰持续了好几天。
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.
然后有一天早上，正好在日出时分，她突然出现了。
And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:
而且，在以如此一丝不苟的精确度工作之后，她打了个哈欠说：
"Ah!I am scarcely awake.I beg that you will excuse me.
“啊！我几乎还没醒。请您原谅我。
My petals are still all disarranged . . ."
我的花瓣仍然是乱的……”
But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:
但是小王子无法抑制他的赞美：
"Oh! How beautiful you are!"
“哦！你真漂亮！”
"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly."And I was born at the same moment as the sun . . ."
“难道我不漂亮吗？”花儿甜蜜地回答。“而且我和太阳在同一时刻诞生……”
The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest--but how moving--and exciting--she was!
小王子很容易猜到她一点也不谦虚——但她是多么的动人和令人兴奋啊！
"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later.
“我想该吃早餐了，”她立刻补充道。
"If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"
“如果您能好心想想我的需求——”
And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water.So, he tended the flower.
小王子完全窘迫，去找一个装满淡水的喷壶。所以，他照料着那朵花。
So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity--which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with.One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:
所以，她也很快就开始以她的虚荣心来折磨他——如果说实话，这有点难以应付。有一天，例如，当她谈到她的四根刺时，她对小王子说：
"Let the tigers come with their claws!"
“让老虎带着它们的爪子来吧！”
"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds."
“我的星球上没有老虎，”小王子反驳道。“而且，无论如何，老虎不吃杂草。”
"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.
“我不是杂草，”花甜蜜地回答。
"Please excuse me . . ."
“请原谅我……”
"I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?"
“我一点也不害怕老虎，”她继续说，“但我非常害怕穿堂风。我想你不会为我准备一个屏风吧？”
"A horror of drafts--that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature . . ."
“害怕穿堂风——这对植物来说是坏运气，”小王子评论道，并对自己补充说，“这朵花真是个复杂的生物……”
"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe.It is very cold where you live.In the place I came from--"
“晚上我想让你把我放在一个玻璃罩下面。你住的地方很冷。在我来的地方——”
But she interrupted herself at that point.She had come in the form of a seed.She could not have known anything of any other worlds.Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naïve untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong."The screen?"
但她在那个时候打断了自己。她以种子的形式出现。她不可能知道任何其他世界的事情。因为让自己陷入如此天真谎言的边缘而感到尴尬，她咳嗽了两三次，以便让小王子感到内疚。“屏幕？”
"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me . . ."
“我正要去寻找它，那时你跟我说话……”
Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.
然后她更加用力地咳嗽，以便他也同样感到内疚。
So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her.He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.
因此，尽管小王子心中充满了与他的爱密不可分的善意，但他很快就开始怀疑她。他认真对待了那些并不重要的话，这让他非常不快乐。
"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day."One never ought to listen to the flowers.One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance.
“我不应该听她的，”有一天他向我倾诉。“人们永远不应该听花的话。人们应该只是看看它们，呼吸它们的芬芳。
Mine perfumed all my planet.But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace.This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."
我的花香飘满了我的星球。但我不知道如何欣赏她所有的优雅。这个关于爪子的故事，它如此地困扰着我，本应该仅仅用温柔和怜悯充满我的内心。
And he continued his confidences:
他继续倾诉心事：
"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her . . . I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her . . ."
“事实是我不知道该如何理解任何事情！我本应该通过行动而不是言语来判断。她将芬芳和光芒洒向我。我本不应该逃离她...我本应该猜到她那些可怜的小计谋背后所隐藏的全部爱意。花是如此的善变！但我那时太年轻，不知道该如何爱她……”