译《小王子》：第二十五章 沙漠水井
"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round…"
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble…"
The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming…
“那些人”小王子说道，“乘坐着特快列车出发远行，可是他们却从不知心中所求，或四处奔走，或莫名兴奋，亦或是来回倒腾。”
然后他又补充了一句：
“这样做就是在白费力气……”
我们最终找到的这口水井，并不像撒哈拉沙漠中的那些井。在撒哈拉沙漠里，所谓的井不过是在沙里挖个坑而已。而这口井却像是村落里的古井，可这附近荒无人烟，我甚至怀疑自己正置身梦中……
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope…"
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing…"
I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.
"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."
“奇怪！”我对小王子说道，“每样东西都好像备好待用一样：轱辘、水桶、绳索……”
他笑了笑，一把抓起井绳，摇着轱辘准备打水。随着转动，轱辘呼呼作响，犹如一个早已被风儿遗忘的古老风向标。
“你听见了吗？”小王子说，“我们唤醒了这口水井，它正在放声歌唱呢……”
我不想让他为牵绳打水而劳累。
“让我来吧。”我说，“这东西对你来说太沉重了。”
打水
I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.
"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink…"
And I understood what he had been looking for.
我缓缓地将水桶升了上来，将其提起放在井栏上……尽管有些疲惫不堪，却也满心欢喜。轱辘发出的歌声依旧在我耳边回荡，我还能看到阳光闪烁，随着荡漾的水波轻舞跳动。
“我就想喝这样的水。”小王子说道，“快给我喝点水吧……”
这时，我才意识到他所要寻求的东西是什么。
I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.
我将水桶举高，凑到他的嘴边。他轻闭双眼，仔细品尝，仿佛井水比特殊节日宴会上的饮料还要甘甜。当然，这桶水确实不同于普通的饮用水。它的甘甜，源自于我们披星戴月的找寻，经历过井上轱辘沉吟的歌声，还要感谢我那费力提水的双臂。它就好像是一份礼物，慰藉着我们的心灵。在我的孩童时代，总会遇见某些惊喜，令我的收到的礼物倍加光彩夺目，比如圣诞树上的彩灯，午夜悠扬的歌声，温柔甜美的笑容……
"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 looking for."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."
"Yes, that is true," I said.
And the little prince added:
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart…"
“你们这里的人们，”小王子说道，“会将五千朵玫瑰花儿种植在同一个花园里面，他们却无法从花丛里寻得心头所爱。”
“他们找不到。”我回答道。
“然而，他们所寻求的东西，也许就藏在一朵花儿身上，或者一丁点儿水中。”
“没错，确实如此。”我说。
小王子继续说道：
“不过仅凭双眼寻求终将一无所获。人们必须用心去感应所寻之物……”
I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief?
"You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more.
"What promise?"
"You know-- a muzzle for my sheep… I am responsible for this flower…"
I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said:
"Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages."
"Oh!"
I had been so proud of my baobabs!
我喝过水之后，顿觉呼吸畅快。在日出时分，沙漠在阳光下泛着蜜糖般的光彩。那样的色彩令我身心愉悦，此时，还会有什么事情能给我带来悲伤呢？
“你要兑现你的诺言。”小王子轻声说道，他再一次坐到了我的身旁。
“什么诺言？”
“你说过……要给我的小羊画一个口套……我必须对那多花儿负责……”
我从口袋里掏出那些粗略勾画的草稿，小王子翻阅之后笑着说道:
“你的这些猴面包树……看起来就像卷心菜一样。”
“怎么会！”
我之前还看着我笔下的猴面包树沾沾自喜呢！
"Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long."
And he laughed again.
"You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."
"Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand."
So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.
"You have plans that I do not know about," I said.
“还有你画的狐狸……他的那双耳朵，看起来跟犄角没什么两样，而且实在太长了！”
话说着说着，他又笑了起来。
“小家伙，你说这话就有失偏颇了！”我说道，“除了蟒蛇吞象图以外，我对其他物体的描绘简直一窍不通。”
“嗯，好像也没有多大关系。”他说，“小孩子总会看得懂。”
于是，我就用铅笔勾勒出一个口套。当我将画递给小王子的时候，我的心仿佛被撕裂了一般。
“你接下来有什么打算呢？”我问道。
But he did not answer me. He said to me, instead:
"You know-- my descent to the earth… Tomorrow will be its anniversary."
Then, after a silence, he went on:
"I came down very near here."
And he flushed.
And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:
"Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?"
The little prince flushed again.
他避开我的问题，自顾自地说道：
“你知道吗……我降落在地球上……到明天就满一周年了……”
接着，在一阵沉默之后，他继续说：
“我来时，就落在这附近。”小王子显得满脸通红。
当时，我的心头，再一次涌起一股难以名状的的哀愁。然后，我的脑海里浮现出这样一个问题：
“所以说，你我的相遇并非偶然。在我第一次遇上你的时候，也就是七天前的那个早晨，你孤身一人在这片渺无人烟的荒漠上徘徊，其实就是打算回到你降落的地方去吧？”
小王子又一次涨红了脸。
And I added, with some hesitancy:
"Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?"
The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?
"Ah," I said to him, "I am a little frightened--"
But he interrupted me.
"Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening…"
But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed…
我又问了一个问题，语气有些迟疑不决。
“或许就是由于一周年的缘故吗？”
小王子的双颊泛着红晕，他从不正面回答问题，可是一旦他脸色发红，就等于是在给出肯定的回答。
“啊，”我对他说道，“我感到一丝不安……”
他却突然打断我的说话。
“现在你该回去工作啦，你必须赶紧把发动机修好。我会在这儿一直等你，明天晚上你再过来找我吧……”
但是我还是放心不下，我想到了小王子和狐狸分别的情景。如果某个人甘愿被驯服，那就意味着要承担起会伤心痛苦的风险。
