译《小王子》：第十五章 地理学家
The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!
"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
"What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
"I am a geographer," the old gentleman said to him.
第六颗行星的体积是上一颗的十倍，上面住着一位撰写长篇巨作的老先生。
“噢，瞧！一位探险家来了！”老先生看见小王子的到来，激动地叫出声来。
小王子瘫坐在桌子旁边，上气不接下气，他长途跋涉好不容易才到达这里。
“你从哪里来？”老先生问小王子。
“那本大部头是什么呀？”小王子问，“您在做什么呢？”
“我是一名地理学家。”老先生回答。
地理学家
"What is a geographer?" asked the little prince.
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts."
"That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.
“地理学家是做什么的？”小王子问道。
“地理学家就是一名学者，他对所有的海洋、河流、城镇、山川和沙漠的方位都了如指掌。”
“听起来还蛮有意思。”小王子说，“终于在这儿碰上一位拥有正经职业的人啦。”接着他环顾四周，仔细观察一下地理学家的行星，他从来未曾见过如此华丽壮观的星球。
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
"I couldn't tell you that, either."
"But you are a geographer!"
“您的星球实在太漂亮了！”小王子感叹道，“这上边有海洋吗？”
“这个我也不清楚。”地理学家回答。
“啊？”小王子大失所望，“那有没有山川呢？”
“这个我不太清楚。”地理学家回答。
“那么城镇，河流，还有沙漠呢？”
“这些我也不是很清楚。”
“您可是一位地理学家耶！”
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character."
“确实如此，”地理学家答道，“可惜我并非一名探险家，而且我的星球上也不存在其他探险者。没有哪一位地理学家要去勘察城镇、河流、山川、海洋和沙漠。地理学家这一职业至关重要，无法四处闲逛。他需要坚守岗位，在办公室里接待探险家们。他会询问探险家们一些问题，并且将他们的所见所闻记录下来。如果某些探险者的冒险经历别有风趣，那地理学家就会对这位探险者的品行道德进行深入调查。”
"Why is that?"
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much."
"Why is that?" asked the little prince.
"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."
“为什么要这样？”
“因为一名探险者的谎言会给地理学家的著作带来毁灭性的后果。同样，一些嗜酒如命的探险者也是如此。”
“这又是为什么呢？”小王子问道。
“这是因为一个醉酒的人眼前会出现叠影，这样地理学家就会将只有一座山的地方记录成两座山。”
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer."
"That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."
"One goes to see it?"
"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."
The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.
“我就认识一个这样的酒鬼，”小王子打趣道，“他注定无法成为一名称职的探险者。”
“也许吧。然后，如果经过调查确定是一名德才兼备的探险家，那就得对他们的发现进行验证。”
“这是要去实地勘察吗？”
“不用。这就有些多此一举了，一般会要求冒险家们提供证据，比如发现的是一座高山，那就要求他从那座山上给我们带一些大石头。”
说到这里地理学家莫名兴奋起来。
"But you-- you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!"
And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink.
"Well?" said the geographer expectantly.
"Oh, where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows."
“正好，你远道而来，又是一名探险家！那就快给我介绍一下你的星球吧！”
接着地理学家已经翻开那本厚重的登记本，并将铅笔也准备妥当。对于探险家的叙述，他会先用铅笔记录下来，等到加以印证之后再用钢笔整理一遍。
“可以吗？”地理学家满怀期待地问道。
“噢，我住的地方……”小王子开始说道，“并没有什么特别之处。我一共拥有三座火山，其中两座是活火山，剩下一座是死火山，不过说不定哪天又会爆发呢！”
清理火山
"One never knows," said the geographer.
"I have also a flower."
"We do not record flowers," said the geographer.
"Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!"
"We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral."
"What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"
“确实难以预料。”地理学家附和道。
“我还有一朵花儿。”
“那个，我们不记载花卉。”地理学家提醒道。
“为什么呢？花儿可是我的行星上面最美好的东西呀！”
“我们真的不会记录花卉。”地理学家解释道，“因为它们的生命太过短暂。”
“‘短暂’又是什么意思？”
"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things."
"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?"
"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."
地理学家继续说道，“与其他类别的书籍相比，地理学专著最为严谨精确。这类书怎么都不会过时，无论是山岳移位，还是大海枯竭都极为少见，我们只书写亘古不变的存在。”
“可是死火山也有可能重新爆发呀。”小王子打断他的话，“‘短暂’意味着什么呢？”
“无论火山是否喷发，在我们看来一般无二。”地理学家说，“我们只关注山川本身，它们一般不会移动。”
"But what does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it.
"It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance.'"
"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?"
"Certainly it is."
"My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone!"
“那‘短暂’到底是什么意思呢？”小王子再三问道，他发问之后没有得到满意的答复肯定不会罢休。
“意思就是：随时面临着消逝灭绝的危险境地。”
“那我的花儿也随时都有可能消失不见吗？”
“肯定如此。”
“我的花儿生命短暂……”小王子自言自语道，“而且她只有四根小刺可以用来抵御外敌。我竟然将她遗弃在那颗星球上，无所依归。”
That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.
"What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.
"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation."
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
这是小王子第一次感到懊恼不已，不过他很快又振作起精神询问道：
“您可否为我推荐几个去处呢？”
“地球这颗行星一向享有盛誉。”地理学家回答道。
小王子听完便动身离开，一路上他都惦记着他的花儿。
