小王子 第15期:螺丝的烦恼

 　　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，还是羊的事，把小王子的生活秘密向我揭开了。

　　Abruptly¹, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation² on his problem, he demanded:

　　好象默默地思索了很长时间以后，得出了什么结果一样，他突然没头没脑地问我：

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

　　羊，要是吃小灌木，它也要吃花罗？

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

　　“它碰到什么吃什么”，我说。

　　Even flowers that have thorns?

　　连有刺的花也吃吗？

　　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.

　　我不知道该怎么回答。

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

　　那会儿我正忙着要从发动机上卸下一颗拧得太紧的螺丝。

　　I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown³ of my plane was extremely serious.

　　心里很着急，我发现机器故障似乎很严重，

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

　　饮水也快完了，担心可能发生最坏的情况，

　　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.

　　小王子一旦提出了问题，从来不会放过。

　　As for me, I was upset over that bolt.

　　这个该死的螺丝使我很恼火，

　　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!"

　　我于是就随便回答了他一句：“刺么，什么用都没有，这纯粹是花的恶劣表现。”

　　Oh!

　　噢！

　　There was a moment of complete silence.

　　可是他沉默了一会儿之后，

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

　　怀着不满的心情冲我说：“我不信！”

　　Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive⁴. They reassure⁵ themselves as best they can.

　　花是弱小的、淳朴的，它们总是设法保护自己，

　　They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons.

　　以为有了刺就可以显出自己的厉害。

　　I did not answer.

　　我默不作声。

　　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."

　　我当时想的，“如果这个螺丝再和我作对，我就一锤子敲掉它。”

　　Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.

　　小王子又来打搅我的思绪了。

　　And you actually believe that the flowers,

　　你却认为花…

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

　　“嗷，不，”我哭着说，“算了吧，算了吧！我什么也不认为！”

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

　　我是随便回答你的。

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

　　我可有正经事要做。

1 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

2 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

3 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

4 naive   

adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的

参考例句：

• It's naive of you to believe he'll do what he says.相信他会言行一致，你未免太单纯了。
• Don't be naive.The matter is not so simple.你别傻乎乎的。事情没有那么简单。

5 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。