06. 这是个箱子（讲解）

节目文稿

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.

语言点

- astounded：adj. 感到震惊的
- greet it with：打招呼 / 作出反应；例：She greeted him with a smile. 她微笑着向他打招呼。
- cumbersome：adj. 笨重的
- sickly：adj. 不健康的
- indulgently：adv. 宽容地
- ram：n. 公羊
- exhausted：adj. 耗尽的 / 精疲力竭的；例：We’ve exhausted our options. 我们已经没有什么选择了。例：I’m exhausted! 我好累！
- toss off：草草写好；toss: v. 扔
- bend over：弯下腰
- acquaintance：n. 相识的人 / 结识；例：an acquaintance of mine 我的一个熟人；例：to make sb’s acquaintance 结识某人

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