一起读《小王子》 | The Little Prince Cha
Chapter II
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. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me:I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week. The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:
"If you please-- draw me a sheep!"
"What!"
"Draw me a sheep!"
I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him. But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.
That, however, is not my fault. 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.
Now I stared at this sudden apparition with my eyes fairly starting out of my head in astonishment. Remember, I had crashed in the desert a thousand miles from any inhabited region. 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. Nothing about him gave any suggestion of a child lost in the middle of the desert, a thousand miles from any human habitation. When at last I was able to speak, I said to him:
"But-- what are you doing here?"
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. . . "
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, a thousand miles from any human habitation and in danger of death, I took out of my pocket a sheet of paper and my fountain pen. 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. He answered me:
"That doesn't matter. Draw me a sheep. . . "
But I had never drawn a sheep. So I drew for him one of the two pictures I had drawn so often. It was that of the boa constrictor from the outside. 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. A boa constrictor is a very dangerous creature, and an elephant is very cumbersome. Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep. "
So then I made a drawing.
He looked at it carefully, then he said:
"No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another. "
So I made another drawing.
My friend smiled gently and indulgently.
"You see yourself," he said, "that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns. "
So then I did my drawing over once more.
But it was rejected too, just like the others.
"This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time. "
By this time my patience was exhausted, because I was in a hurry to start taking my engine apart.
So I tossed off this drawing. And I threw out an explanation with it.
"This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside. "
I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:
"That is exactly the way I wanted it! Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?"
"Why?"
"Because where I live everything is very small. . . "
"There will surely be enough grass for him," I said. "It is a very small sheep that I have given you. "
He bent his head over the drawing:
"Not so small that-- Look! He has gone to sleep. . . "
And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.
一、可能的生词
mechanic 修理工
scarcely 刚刚；才；勉强
habitation 住处；住所；聚居地
isolated 孤独的；孤寂的；孤立无援的
shipwrecked 遭遇海难的；船只遇难的
raft 充气浮垫；救生筏
thus 所以，因此
odd 奇怪的；古怪的；奇特的；异常的
thunderstruck 极其惊讶的；震惊的
blink 眨（眼）
charming 富有魅力的；迷人的
apparition 幻影；幽灵
fairyly (用在形容词和副词前，代替very,表示强调，但比 very 语气弱)有些，有点，还算
region 地区；地带
stray 迷路；偏离；走失
faint 晕厥；晕倒
fatigue 疲惫；疲劳；疲倦
mystery 谜；神秘的事物；难懂的事物
overpowering 强烈的；难以抗拒的
disobey 违背
absurd 荒谬的；荒唐的；不合理的
fountain pen 自来水笔；钢笔
chap 男人；男孩
crossly 生气地
astounded 大吃一惊的；震惊的
cumbersome 大而笨重的
sickly 虚弱的；体弱多病的
indulgently 宽容地
ram 公羊
exhausted 精疲力竭的；疲惫不堪的
take apart 拆开；拆散；拆解
toss off 匆忙完成
explanation 解释；说明
judge 法官；评判员
bend 低（头）；俯（首）
make someone's acquaintance 与（某人）初次相识；结识(某人)
二、可能的难句
Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him.
去掉那个later，其实就是portrait that I was able to make of him，根据上下文能猜出来，但是make of是一个固定搭配么？我还真没有查询到。
And in answer he repeated, very slowly, as if he were speaking of a matter of great consequence:
a matter of great consequence 第一章已经提到的，小王子的主题之一。
I was very surprised to see a light break over the face of my young judge:
light break 很多地方是表示“顿悟”，这里，大约是在表示小王子的喜笑颜开吧。
Do you think that this sheep will have to have a great deal of grass?
have to have 有点绕哦，想明白了吗？
