So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago.

我就这样孤独地生活着，没有一个能真正谈得来的人，一直到六年前在撒哈拉沙漠上我的飞机发生了那次故障。

Something was broken in my engine.

我的发动机里有个东西损坏了。

And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone.

当时由于我既没有带机械师也没有带旅客，我就试图独自完成这个困难的维修工作。

It was a question of life or death for me: I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.

这对我来说是个生与死的问题。我随身带的水只够饮用一星期。

The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, from any human habitation.
第一天晚上我就睡在这远离人间烟火的大沙漠上。

I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

我比大海中伏在小木排上的遇难者还要孤独得多。

Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice.

而在第二天拂晓，当一个奇怪的小声音叫醒我的时候，你们可以想见我当时是多么吃惊。

It said:"If you please-- draw me a sheep"!

这小小的声音说道：“请你给我画一只羊，好吗？”

"What!"

“啊！”

"Draw me a sheep"!

“给我画一只羊！”

I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck.

我像是受到惊雷轰击一般，一下子就站立起来。

I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me.

我使劲地揉了揉眼睛，仔细地看了看周围。

And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness.

我看见一个十分奇怪的小家伙严肃地朝我凝眸望着。

Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him.

这是后来我给他画出来的最好的一幅画像。

But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.

可是，我的画当然要比他本人的模样逊色得多。

That, however, is not my fault.

但这不是我的过错。

The grown-ups discouraged me in my painter's career when I was six years old, and I never learned to draw anything, except boas from the outside and boas from the inside.

六岁时，大人们使我对我的画家生涯失去了勇气，除了画过开着肚皮和闭着肚皮的蟒蛇，后来再没有学过画。

Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment.

我惊奇地睁大着眼睛看着这突然出现的小家伙。

Remember, I had crashed in the desert from any inhabited region.

不要忘记，我当时可是失事在远离人烟千里之外的地方。

And yet my little man seemed neither to be straying uncertainly among the sands, nor to be fainting from fatigue or hunger or thirst or fear.

他既不像是在这沙漠中迷了路，也没有半点疲乏、饥渴、惧怕的神情。

Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, from any human habitation.

而这个小家伙给我的印象是，他丝毫不像是一个迷失在旷无人烟的大沙漠中的孩子。

When at last I was able to speak, I said to him: "But-- what are you doing here"?

当我终于又能说出话来的时候，我对他说道：“但是，你在这儿干什么？”

And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence: "If you please-- draw me a sheep. . ."

可是他却不慌不忙地好像是在说有一件很重要的事一般，对我重复地说道：“请……给我画一只羊……”

When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey.

当一种神秘的东西把你镇住的时候，你是不敢不听从它的支配的。

Absurd as it might seem to me, from any human habitation and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain pen.

在这旷无人烟的沙漠上，面临死亡的危险的情况下，尽管这样的举动使我感到十分荒诞，我还是掏出了一张纸和一支钢笔。

But then I remembered how my studies had been concentrated on geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar, and I told the little chap （a little crossly, too） that I did not know how to draw.

这时我却又记起，我只学过地理、历史、算术和语法，就有点不大高兴地对小家伙说我不会画画。

He answered me:“That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep. . ."

他回答我说：“没有关系，给我画一只羊吧！”

But I had never drawn a sheep.

因为我从来没有画过羊。

So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often.

我就给他画了我经常画的两幅画中的一幅。

It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside.

就是那幅闭着肚皮的巨蟒。

And I was astounded to hear the little fellow greet it with, “No, no, no! I do not want an elephant inside a boa constrictor.

我被小家伙的话惊得目瞪口呆。“不，不，不！我不要大象在一条蟒蛇肚子里。

A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome.巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太占地方。

Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep".

我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。”

So then I made a drawing. He looked at it carefully, then he said:

所以接着我就给他画了。他专心地看着，随后又说：

"No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another".“

我不要，这只羊已经病得很重了。给我重新画一只。”

So I made another drawing.

我又画了一幅。

My friend smiled gently and indulgently.

我的这位朋友温柔、宽容地笑了。

"You see yourself," he said, “that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns".

他说道：“你看，这不是小羊而是一头公羊，还有犄角呢。”

So then I did my drawing over once more. But it was rejected too, just like the others.于是我又重新画了一张。这幅画同前几幅一样又被拒绝了。

"This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time".

“这一只太老了。我想要一只能活很久的羊。”

By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart.

到了这个时候我的耐心用完了，因为我急于要检修发动机部件。

So I tossed off this drawing. And I threw out an explanation with it.

于是就草草画了这张画，并且说出一个解释。

"This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside".

“这是一只箱子，你要的羊就在里面。”

I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:

这时我十分惊奇地看到我的这位小评判员喜笑颜开。

"That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass"?

“这正是我想要的，你说这只羊需要很多草吗？”

"Why”?“Because where I live everything is very small. . ."

“为什么问这个呢？”“因为我住的地方所有东西都非常小……”

"There will surely be enough grass for him," I said. “It is a very small sheep that I have given you".

“我给你画的是一只很小的小羊，地方小也够喂养它的。”

He bent his head over the drawing: "Not so small that -- Look! He has gone to sleep. .."

他把脑袋靠近这张画：“并不像你说的那么小……瞧！它睡着了……”

And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.

就这样，我结识了小王子。

小王子The Little Prince(2)