作者：安托万·德·圣·埃克苏佩里
朗读：Jayden
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey. Absurd as it might seem to me, 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:
当一种神秘的东西把你镇住的时候，你是不敢不听从它的支配的，在这旷无人烟的沙漠上，面临死亡的危险的情况下，尽管这样的举动使我感到十分荒诞，我还是掏出了一张纸和一支钢笔。这时我却又记起，我只学过地理、历史、算术和语法，就有点不大高兴地对小家伙说我不会画画。他回答我说：
“That doesn’t matter. Draw me a sheep...”
“没有关系，给我画一只羊吧！”
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.”
因为我从来没有画过羊，我就给他重画我所仅仅会画的两副画中的那副闭着肚皮的巨蟒。
“不，不！我不要蟒蛇，它肚子里还有一头象。”我听了他的话，简直目瞪口呆。他接着说：“巨蟒这东西太危险，大象又太占地方。我住的地方非常小，我需要一只羊。给我画一只羊吧。”
So then I made a drawing.
我就给他画了。
He looked at it carefully, then he said: “No. This sheep is already very sickly. Make me another.”
他专心地看着，随后又说：“我不要，这只羊已经病得很重了。给我重新画一只。”
So I made another drawing.
我又画了起来。
My friend smiled gently and indulgently. “You see yourself,” he said, “that this is not a sheep. This is a ram. It has horns.”
我的这位朋友天真可爱地笑了，并且客气地拒绝道：“你看，你画的不是小羊，是头公羊，还有犄角呢。”
So then I did my drawing over once more.
于是我又重新画了一张。
But it was rejected too, just like the others. “This one is too old. I want a sheep that will live a long time.”
这副画同前几副一样又被拒绝了。“这一只太老了。我想要一只能活得长的羊。”
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.
我不耐烦了。因为我急于要检修发动机，于是就草草画了这张画，并且匆匆地对他说道：
“This is only his box. The sheep you asked for is inside.”
“这是一只箱子，你要的羊就在里面。”
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?”
这时我十分惊奇地看到我的这位小评判员喜笑颜开。他说：“这正是我想要的，…你说这只羊需要很多草吗？”
“Why?”“
“为什么问这个呢？”
“Because where I live everything is very small...”
“因为我那里地方非常小…”
“There will surely be enough grass for him,” I said. “It is a very small sheep that I have given you.”
“我给你画的是一只很小的小羊，地方小也够喂养它的。”
He bent his head over the drawing:
“Not so small that - Look! He has gone to sleep...”
他把脑袋靠近这张画。“并不象你说的那么小…瞧！它睡着了…”
And that is how I made the acquaintance of the little prince.
就这样，我认识了小王子。
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