小王子 第50期:节约时间

 "Good morning," said the little prince.

“你好。”小王子说。

"Good morning," said the merchant.

“你好。”商人说道。

This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench¹ thirst.

这是一位贩卖能够止渴的精制药丸的商人。

You need only swallow one pill a week,and you would feel no need of anything to drink.

每周吞服一丸就不会感觉口渴。

"Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince.

“你为什么卖这玩艺儿？”小王子说。

"Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant.

“这就大大地节约了时间。”商人说，

Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fiftythree minutes in every week.

专家们计算过，这样，每周可以节约五十三分钟。

"And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?"

“那么，用这五十三分钟做什么用？”

Anything you like...

随便怎么用都行。…

"As for me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water."

小王子自言自语地说：“我如果有五十三分钟可支配，我就悠哉游哉地向水泉走去…”

1 quench   

vt.熄灭，扑灭；压制

参考例句：

• The firemen were unable to quench the fire.消防人员无法扑灭这场大火。
• Having a bottle of soft drink is not enough to quench my thirst.喝一瓶汽水不够解渴。