Chapter 3 A Sheep in the Box
It took me a long time to learn where he came from. The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him. It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.
everything was revealed to me 一切逐渐明朗
我花了很长时间去了解小王子从哪里来,他是个总是问我一大堆问题,却从不回答我的问题的人。从他的只言片语间,事情逐渐明朗。
The first time he saw my airplane, for instance (I shall not draw my airplane; that would be much too complicated for me), he asked me:
“What is that object?”
“That is not an object. It flies. It is an airplane. It is my airplane.”
And I was proud to have him learn that I could fly.
have him learn 让他知道
have sb do sth 让某人做某事
have sth done 让别人来做某事
have sb/sth doing 叫 / 让 / 使某人做某事或让某种情况发生”。宾语 sb./sth .后面用现在分词作宾语补足语,表示宾语与现在分词表示的动作之间为主动关系,且动作正在进行。
例如,第一次看到我的飞机(我不愿意画飞机,它太复杂了),他问我:
“这东西是啥?”
“这不是东西,它能飞,这是飞机,我的飞机。”
我很自豪的让他知道我会开飞机。
He cried out, then:
“What! You dropped down from the sky?”
“Yes,” I answered, modestly.
“Oh! That is funny!”
And the little prince broke into a lovely peal of laughter, which irritated me very much. I like my misfortunes to be taken seriously.
irritate 激怒
take seriously 重视,认真(想),当真
然后他喊道:
“什么!你从天上掉下来的?”
“是的”我谦虚的回答到
“哇,真好玩!”
小王子爆发出一阵大笑,这使我感到生气。我希望他正视我的不幸。
Then he added:
“So you, too, come from the sky! Which is your planet?”
At that moment I caught a gleam of light in the impenetrable mystery of his presence; and I demanded, abruptly:
“Do you come from another planet?”
然后他说:
“所以你也是从天上来的!哪座是你的星球?”
在这一刻我灵光一闪,终于瞥到他的来历的秘密,我马上发问:
“你是从另一个星球来的吗?”
And he sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. Then, taking my sheep out of his pocket, he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.
bury oneself in the contemplation of 看着…入了神
他陷入了长久的沉思中,然后把我画的小羊从口袋里拿出来,看着入了神。
You can imagine how my curiosity was aroused by this half-confidence about the “other planets.” I made a great effort, therefore, to find out more on this subject.
你能够想象像“其他星球”这种半明半暗的言辞如何勾起了我的好奇心。因此我努力找出更多线索。
“My little man, where do you come from? What is this ‘where I live,’ of which you speak? Where do you want to take your sheep?”
小家伙,你从哪里来?什么是你所说的“我所住的地方”,你想带你的小羊去哪?
After a reflective silence he answered:
“The thing that is so good about the box you have given me is that at night he can use it as his house.”
“That is so. And if you are good I will give you a string, too, so that you can tie him during the day, and a post to tie him to.”
a post to tie him to 栓它的桩子
That is so 确实如此
一阵沉思后他回答道:
“你给我的这个盒子真好,晚上小羊可以把它当成房子。”
“确实如此。”如果你乖,我还会给你一根线,这样白天你就能拴着它,还给你栓它的栓子。
“That doesn’t matter. Where I live, everything is so small!”
And, with perhaps a hint of sadness, he added:
“Straight ahead of him, nobody can go very far…”