夜雨聆风工程师妈妈的教育自媒体欢迎您
没有人欣赏作者画的“蟒蛇吞象”……
🌷
【第一部分】
就这样，我习惯了一个人独自生活，
因为找不到一个可以真正谈心的人；
So I lived my life alone, without anyone
that I could really talk to,
直到，六年前：
发生在撒哈拉沙漠上的那次(机械)故障。
until I had an accident with my plane
in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago.
事故的原因，是飞机的引擎坏了。
Something was broken in my engine.
当时，就我一个人；
飞机上，既没有机械师，也没有旅客。
艰巨的维修任务，我只能自己试着独自完成。
And as I had with me neither a mechanic
nor any passengers, I set myself
to attempt the difficult repairs all alone.
这是一个考验生死的问题：
因为携带的水，无论怎么节省；
也最多，只够喝一个星期的量。
It was a question of life or death for me:
I had scarcely enough
drinking water to last a week.
第一个晚上，我就睡在沙漠上，
周围是没有人间烟火的无人区。
The first night,
then, I went to sleep on the sand,
a thousand miles from any human habitation.
我觉得，我比茫茫大海中：
漂浮在木筏上的受困者，还要孤独。
I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor
on a raft in the middle of the ocean.
所以，当第二天黎明：
听到一个微弱的声音在叫我的时候；
你简直想象不出来，我是有多惊讶。
Thus you can imagine my amazement,
at sunrise,
when I was awakened by an odd little voice.
🌷🌷
【第二部分】
“你能帮我画一只羊吗？”
“If you please … draw me a sheep！”
我睁大了眼睛，
惊讶地看着这个突然出现的小家伙。
Now I stared at this sudden apparition
with my eyes fairly starting
out of my head in astonishment.
要知道，当时可是在荒无人烟的大沙漠；
离人类的居住区，有上千英里。
Remember, I had crashed in the desert
a thousand miles from any inhabited region.
但眼前的这个小家伙，看上去不像迷了路；
也没有半点累得要死，或者饥渴、害怕的神情。
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.
“请你……帮我……画一只羊……”
“If you please … draw me … a sheep … ”
我可不会画羊！
But I had never drawn a sheep.
于是，我就给他画了：
我之前，只画过的那两幅画。
So I drew for him one of the two pictures
I had drawn so often.
就是，那幅闭着肚皮的蟒蛇。
It was that of the boa_constrictor
from the outside.
🌷🌷🌷
【第三部分】
“不，不，我不要蟒蛇！
(何况)它肚子里，还有一头大象！”
“No, no, no！I do not want an elephant
inside a boa_constrictor.”
“蟒蛇太危险了，大象又太大了！”
“A boa constrictor
is a very dangerous creature,
and an elephant is very cumbersome.”
“我住的地方超小，你还是帮我画一只羊吧！”
“Where I live, everything is very small.
What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.”
“这是一只病羊，而且病得很重，我不要……”
“No. This sheep is already very sickly. ”
“这不是小羊。这是一头公羊，它有犄角……”
“That this is not a sheep.
This is a ram. It has horns.”
“这只羊，太老了；
我要的是，一只能活得久的羊……“
“This one is too old.
I want a sheep that will live a long time.”
我没了耐心，得抓紧把引擎修好。
By this time my patience was exhausted,
because I was in a hurry
to start taking my engine apart.
所以，草草画了一幅，并给出了合理的解释：
So I tossed off this drawing.
And I threw out an explanation with it.
“这是一个箱子，你要的羊就在里面！”
“This is only his box.
The sheep you asked for is inside.”
“那正是我想要的！”
“That is exactly the way I wanted it！”
就这样，我结识了小王子。
And that is how I made the acquaintance
of the little prince.
博学成就梦想！知识改变人生！