如果有什么书是年幼时,成年时或者老年时都是值得一读的,那一定是《小王子》!
To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys.
And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me.
To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes.
对我而言,你只是一个小男孩,和其它成千上万的小男孩没有什么不同。
我不需要你。你也不需要我。
对你而言,我也和其它成千上万的狐狸并没有什么差别。
But if you tame me, then we shall need each other.
To me, you will be unique in allthe world.
To you, I shall be unique in all the world.
但是,假如你驯养了我,我们就需要彼此了。
对我而言,你就是举世无双的;
对你而言,我也是独一无二的.
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince.
"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at alittle distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. I shall look at you out ofthe corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source ofmisunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day..."
“驯养你,那我应该怎么做呢?”小王子问道。
“你必须很耐心,”狐狸答道,“首先,你坐在草地上,离我有一些距离——就像这样。我偷偷地用眼角观察你,你什么也别说。言语是误会的根源。但是,你每天都可以坐得离我更近一些...”
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour,"said the fox. "If, for example, you come at four o‘clock in the afternoon,then at three o‘clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier andhappier as the hour advances. At four o‘clock, I shall already be worrying andjumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just anytime, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you...One must observe the proper rites..."
第二天,小王子又来了。
“你最好每天都在同一个时刻过来,”狐狸说道,“比如说你下午四点来,那我从三点开始就会感到快乐。离四点越近,我就会越来越快乐。四点一到,我就会坐立不安。我会让你看到我究竟有多快乐!但是如果你来的时间不固定,我就不知道该什么时候开始准备迎接你...我们应该遵循正确的仪式...”
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too oftenneglected," said the fox. "They are what make one day different fromother days, one hour from other hours.
“什么是仪式?”小王子问道。
“这也是经常被人遗忘的行为,”狐狸说,“所谓仪式,就是使某一天不同于其他日子,使某一时刻不同于其他时刻。
And he was overcome with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one ofher kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them, all alike,in one single garden!
小王子的心里忽然充满了忧伤。他的花曾经告诉他,她是宇宙中唯一的一朵花这种形状的花。可是在这里,在仅仅这个花园里,就有千万朵和她长得一模一样的花。
I thought that I was rich,with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose.
我本以为自己非常富有,因为我有世界上唯一的一朵花;其实我有的只是一朵普通的花。
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die foryou. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just likeyou-- the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more importantthan all the hundreds of you other roses.
你们是很美丽,但是你们也是空虚的。没有人愿意为你们献出生命。当然,我的那朵玫瑰花——一个过路人或许会认为我的花和你们一模一样。可是在我的心里,仅仅她一朵花,就比你们成千上万朵花更重要。
Because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under theglass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; becauseit is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to,when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Becauseshe is my rose.
因为她是我亲自去浇灌的那朵花;因为她是我用玻璃罩保护起来的那朵花;因为她是我曾经为之驱虫的那朵花。因为我倾听过她的抱怨,倾听过她的炫耀,甚至倾听过她什么都不说。因为她是我的玫瑰花。
也许世界上也有千万朵和你一模一样的花,但只有你是我独一无二的玫瑰。
"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judgedby deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. Iought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all theaffection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are soinconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her..."
“可事实上我当时什么都不懂!我应该看她做过什么,而不是听她说了什么。她的花香飘在我的周围,她的光芒照耀着我。我永远也不应该离开她……我本应该感到她所有那些可爱的小花招后面隐藏的脉脉深情。花儿是如此的变化多姿!可是我那时太年轻,不懂得怎样去爱她……”
"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are lookingfor."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a littlewater."
“你们这里的人,在同一个花园里种下了千万朵玫瑰花---可是他们却不能从中找到自己正在寻找的东西。”小王子说。
“他们是找不到。”我回答说。
“然而,他们正在寻找的东西,其实可以从一朵玫瑰花或者一滴水中找到。”
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."
in it what they are looking for."
小王子又补充说:“但是眼睛是什么也看不见的。必须用心灵去感受……”
What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is hisloyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole beinglike the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep...
这个熟睡的小王子最叫我感动的地方是,他对一朵玫瑰的感情——甚至他睡着了,那朵玫瑰花的影子,仍然像灯光一样照亮他的生命……
我们长大了,不再看童话故事,我们每天在拥堵的城市煞有其事地生活,却把原本简单的生活过得越来越复杂,早已失去了了解这个世界的新鲜感和好奇心,我们对一切都习以为常。我们走路的时候匆忙的像上厕所一样,没有时间停下来,看看星星或者夕阳,没有时间等一朵花开花谢,没有时间问问路边低着头的小孩在想什么,没有时间写信,没有时间赤脚走路……小王子说得对,所有的大人都曾是小孩子,但,只有少数人记得。
All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it.
三毛在《雨季不再来》里说:我唯一锲而不舍,愿意以自己的生命去努力的,只不过是保守我个人的心怀意念,在我有生之日,做一个真诚的人,不放弃对生活的热爱和执着,在有限的时空里,过无限广大的日子。
狄更斯曾这样描述《小王子》创造的时代:这是最美好的时代,这是最坏的时代;这是智慧的年代,这是愚蠢的年代;这是信仰的时期,这是怀疑的时期;这是光明的季节,这是黑暗的季节;这是希望之春,这是失望之冬;人们面前有着各种事物,人们面前一无所有!
其实,每个时代,主旋律不同,但规律都一样!
在这个最好和最坏的时代,“愿你有好运气,如果没有,愿你在不幸中学会慈悲;愿你被很多人爱,如果没有,愿你在寂寞中学会宽容。”