小王子 第52期:沙漠是美丽的

 When we had trudged¹ along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell,and the stars began to come out.

当我们默默地走了好几个小时以后，天黑了下来，星星开始发出光亮。

Thirst had made me a little feverish², and I looked at them as if I were in a dream.

由于渴我有点发烧，我看着这些星星，象是在做梦一样。

The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory:

小王子的话在我的脑海中跳来跳去。

"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded.

“你也渴吗？”我问他。

But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:" Water may also be good for the heart... "

他却不回答我的问题，只是对我说：“水对心也是有益处的…”

I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.

我不懂他的话是什么意思，可我也不做声…我知道不应该去问他。

He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him.

他累了，他坐下来。我在他身旁坐下。

And, after a little silence, he spoke³ again: "The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen."

沉默了一会，他又说道：“星星是很美的，因为有一朵人们看不到的花…”

I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more,

我回答道：“当然。”

I looked across the ridges⁴ of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.

而我默默地看着月光下沙漠的褶皱。

"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.

“沙漠是美的。”他又说道。

And that was true. I have always loved the desert.

确实如此。我一直很喜欢沙漠。

One sits down on a desert sand dune⁵, sees nothing, hears nothing.

坐在一个沙丘上，什么也看不见、听不见。

Yet through the silence something throbs⁶, and gleams...

但是，却有一种说不出的东西在默默地放着光芒…

"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."

使沙漠更加美丽的，就是在某个角落里，藏着一口井…

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands.

我很惊讶，突然明白了为什么沙漠放着光芒。

1 trudged   

vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He trudged the last two miles to the town. 他步履艰难地走完最后两英里到了城里。
• He trudged wearily along the path. 他沿着小路疲惫地走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 ridges   

n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊

参考例句：

• The path winds along mountain ridges. 峰回路转。
• Perhaps that was the deepest truth in Ridges's nature. 在里奇斯的思想上，这大概可以算是天经地义第一条了。

5 dune   

n.(由风吹积而成的)沙丘

参考例句：

• The sand massed to form a dune.沙积集起来成了沙丘。
• Cute Jim sat on the dune eating a prune in June.可爱的吉姆在六月天坐在沙丘上吃着话梅。

6 throbs   

体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My finger throbs with the cut. 我的手指因切伤而阵阵抽痛。
• We should count time by heart throbs, in the cause of right. 我们应该在正确的目标下，以心跳的速度来计算时间。