听书 | The Little Prince（小王子）- 08
《小王子》是法国作家安托万·德·圣·埃克苏佩里（Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ）于1942年写成的著名儿童文学短篇小说。本书的主人公是来自外星球的小王子。
书中以一位飞行员作为故事叙述者，讲述了小王子从自己星球出发前往地球的过程中，所经历的各种历险。作者以小王子的孩子式的眼光，透视出成人的空虚、盲目，愚妄和死板教条，用浅显天真的语言写出了人类的孤独寂寞、没有根基随风流浪的命运。同时，也表达出作者对金钱关系的批判，对真善美的讴歌。
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry （《小王子》作者）
圣埃克苏佩里（1900-1944），法国作家。他是法国最早的一代飞行员之一。1940年流亡美国，侨居纽约，埋头文学创作。1943年参加盟军在北非的抗战。1944年他在执行第八次飞行侦察任务时失踪。其作品主要描述飞行员生活，代表作有小说《夜航》，散文集《人类的大地》《空军飞行员》，童话《小王子》等。
Peter Ustinov（英）（《小王子》朗读者）
Peter Ustinov（英），生于英国伦敦，著名演员、导演。中国观众最为熟知的角色为《尼罗河惨案》《阳光下的罪恶》等电影里那位穿着白西装形象可爱，绅士又不失幽默的大侦探波洛。
往期目录
朗读 Peter Ustinov【英】 | 译者：周克希
I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody. One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded peacefully away. But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.
The shrub soon stopped growing, and began to get ready to produce a flower. The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colours with the greatest care. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.
And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:
"Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged..."
But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:
"Oh! How beautiful you are!"
"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun..."
The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest-- but how moving-- and exciting-- she was!
"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs--"
And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower.
So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity-- which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with. One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:
"Let the tigers come with their claws!"
"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds."
"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.
"Please excuse me..."
"I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?"
"A horror of drafts-- that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature..."
"At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from--"
But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.
"The screen?"
"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me..."
Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.
So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her. He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.
"I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."
And he continued his confidences:
"The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her..."
我很快就对这朵花儿有了更多的了解。在小王子的星球上，过去一直长着些很简单的花儿，这些花儿只有一层花瓣，不占地方，也不妨碍任何人。某个早晨她们会在草丛中绽放，一到晚上又都悄悄凋谢了。有一天，一颗不知从哪儿来的种子发了芽，长出的嫩苗跟别的幼苗都不一样。小王子小心翼翼地观察着这株嫩苗，它说不定是猴面包树的一枝幼芽呢。但是这株嫩苗很快就不再长大，渐渐含苞欲放。小王子眼看着它绽出一个很大很大的花蕾，心想这花蕾里一定会出现奇妙的景象，可是这朵花儿待在绿色的花萼里面，磨磨蹭蹭地打扮个没完。她精心挑选着自己的颜色，慢吞吞地穿上衣裙，一片一片地理顺花瓣。她不愿像虞美人[注释]那样一亮相就是满脸皱纹。她要让自己美艳照人地来到世间。噢！对。她很爱俏！她那神秘的装扮，就这样日复一日地延续着。然后，有一天早晨，太阳刚升起的时候，她绽放了。
她精心打扮了那么久，这会儿却打着哈欠说：
“啊！我刚睡醒……真对不起……头发还是乱蓬蓬的……”
这时，小王子的爱慕之情油然而生：
“您真美！”
“可不是吗，”花儿柔声答道，“我是跟太阳同时出生的嘛……”
小王子感觉到了她不太谦虚，不过她实在太楚楚动人了！
“我想，现在该是用早餐的时间了，”她随即又说，“麻烦您也给我……”
小王子很不好意思，于是就打来一壶清水，给这朵花儿浇水。
就这样，她带着点多疑的虚荣心，很快就把他折磨得够呛。比如说，有一天说起她的四根刺，她对小王子说：
“那些老虎，让它们张着爪子来好了！”
“我的星球上没有老虎，”小王子顶了她一句，“再说，老虎也不吃草呀。”
“我不是草，”花儿柔声答道。
“对不起……”
“我不怕老虎，可我怕风。您没有风障吗？”
“怕风……一棵植物到了这份上，那可惨了，”小王子轻声说，“花儿可真难伺候……”
“晚上您要把我罩起来。您这儿很冷。又没安顿好。我来的那地方……”
可是她没说下去。她来的时候是颗种子。她不可能知道别的世界是怎么样的。让人发现她说的谎这么不高明，她又羞又恼，就咳嗽了两三声，想让小王子觉得理亏：
“风障呢？”
“我正要去拿，可您跟我搭话了！”
于是她咳得更重了些，不管怎么说，她非让他感到内疚不可。
就这样，小王子尽管真心真意喜欢这朵花儿，可还是很快就对她起了疑心。他对那些无关紧要的话太当真了，结果自己很苦恼。
“我本来不该去听她说什么的，”有一天他对我说了心里话，“花儿说的话，是听不得的。花儿是让人看，让人闻的。这朵花儿让我的星球芳香四溢，我却不会享受这快乐。老虎爪子那些话，惹得我那么生气，其实我该同情她才是……”
他还对我说：
“我当时什么也不懂！看她这个人，应该看她做什么，而不是听她说什么。她给了我芳香，给了我光彩。我真不该逃走！我本该猜到她那小小花招背后的一片柔情。花儿总是这么表里不一！可惜当时我太年轻，还不懂得怎么去爱她。”