《《小王子》》开篇：英文原著带中文翻译

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

六岁那年，我在一本书里看到一幅很美的画，书名叫《真实的故事》，写的是原始森林。画中是一条蟒蛇正在吞食一只动物。这就是那幅画的副本。

In the book it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion.”

书上说：「蟒蛇把猎物整个吞下，嚼都不嚼。之后它们动弹不得，要睡上六个月来消化。」

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:

于是，我深深思索起丛林中的冒险。经过一番努力，我用彩色铅笔成功画出了我的第一幅画。我的第一号画。它看起来有点像这样：

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

我把我的杰作拿给大人们看，问他们这幅画是不是让他们害怕。

But they answered: “Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?”

可他们回答：「害怕？一顶帽子有什么好怕的？」

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

我的画不是一顶帽子。画的是一条蟒蛇在消化一头大象。可是大人们看不懂，于是我又画了一幅：我画了蟒蛇的内部，好让大人们看个明白。他们总是需要别人解释。我的第二号画看起来像这样：

The grown-ups’ response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter.

这一次，大人们的反应是劝我别再画蟒蛇了，不管是内部还是外部，还是去专心学地理、历史、算术和语法吧。就这样，六岁那年，我放弃了可能成为画家的辉煌前程。

I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

我的第一号画和第二号画的失败让我灰心丧气。大人们从来不会自己弄懂任何事情，孩子们老是要给他们解释，真是累人。

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me.

于是，我选择了另一个职业，学会了驾驶飞机。我几乎飞遍了世界各地；地理确实对我非常有用。

At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

我一眼就能分辨中国和亚利桑那。要是在夜里迷了路，这种知识可宝贵了。

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.

在这一生中，我遇到过许多许多关注要紧事情的人。我在大人们中间生活了很久。我近距离地仔细观察过他们。可这并没有让我对他们有多大改观。

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding.

每当我遇到一个在我看来还算有点眼力的大人，我就试着给他看我一直保存着的第一号画。我想借此弄清，这个人是不是真有悟性。

But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: “That is a hat.”

可是，不管是谁，他或她总是说：「那是一顶帽子。」

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

于是，我就再也不和那个人谈蟒蛇、原始森林或星星了。我把自己降到他的水平。我跟他谈桥牌、高尔夫、政治和领带。于是，那个大人会非常高兴，觉得遇到了一个如此通情达理的人。