文稿：
It was then that the fox appeared.
"Good morning," said the fox.
"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although whenhe turned around he saw nothing.
"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."
"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are verypretty to look at."
"I am a fox," said the fox.
"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am sounhappy."
"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."
"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince.But, after some thought, he added:"What does that mean-- 'tame'?"
"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you arelooking for?"
"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does thatmean-- 'tame'?"
"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is verydisturbing. They also raise chickens. These are their onlyinterests. Are you looking for chickens?"
"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What doesthat mean-- 'tame'?"
"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. It means toestablish ties."
"'To establish ties'?"
"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than alittle boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys.And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need ofme. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousandother foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. Tome, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be uniquein all the world..."
"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is aflower... I think that she has tamed me..."
"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts ofthings."
"Oh, but this is not on the Earth!" said the little prince.
The fox seemed perplexed, and very curious."On another planet?"
"Yes."
"Are there hunters on this planet?"
"No."
"Ah, that is interesting! Are there chickens?"
"No."
"Nothing is perfect," sighed the fox.But he came back to his idea.
"My life is very monotonous," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; menhunt me. All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are justalike. And, in consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me,it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life . I shall know thesound of a step that will be different from all the others. Othersteps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will callme, like music, out of my burrow. And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me.The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But youhave hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that willbe when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, willbring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to thewind in the wheat..."
The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time."Please-- tame me!" he said.
"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have notmuch time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things tounderstand."
"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Menhave no more time to understand anything. They buy things all readymade at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buyfriendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want afriend, tame me..."
"What must I do, to tame you?" asked the little prince. "You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sitdown at a little distance from me-- like that-- in the grass. Ishall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will saynothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you willsit a little closer to me, every day..."
The next day the little prince came back.
"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said thefox. "If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon,then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feelhappier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shallalready be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at whathour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe theproper rites..."
"What is a rite?" asked the little prince.
"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "Theyare what make one day different from other days, one hour from otherhours. There is a rite, for example, among my hunters. EveryThursday they dance with the village girls. So Thursday is awonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the vine yards. Butif the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be likeevery other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."
So the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of hisdeparture drew near--
"Ah," said the fox, "I shall cry."
"It is your own fault," said the little prince. "I never wished youany sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you..."
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"But now you are going to cry!" said the little prince.
"Yes, that is so," said the fox.
"Then it has done you no good at all!"
"It has done me good," said the fox, "because of the color of thewheat fields." And then he added: "Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yoursis unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me, andI will make you a present of a secret."
The little prince went away, to look again at the roses.
"You are not at all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing.No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one. You are like my foxwhen I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousandother foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now he is unique inall the world."
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could notdie for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that myrose looked just like you-- the rose that belongs to me. But inherself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of youother roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that Ihave sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I havekilled the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved tobecome butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, whenshe grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing.Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
"Goodbye," he said.
"Goodbye," said the fox.
"And now here is my secret, a very simplesecret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what isessential is invisible to the eye."
"What is essential is invisible to the eye," the little princerepeated, so that he would be sure to remember.
"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your roseso important."
"It is the time I have wasted for my rose--" said the little prince,so that he would be sure to remember.
"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must notforget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.You are responsible for your rose..."
"I am responsible for my rose," the little prince repeated, so thathe would be sure to remember.
用户评论