Chapter 10 The King Without Subjects
He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, and 330. He began, therefore, by visiting them, in order to add to his knowledge.
The first of them was inhabited by a king. Clad in royal purple and ermine, he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.
他发现自己是小行星325,326,327,328,329,330的邻居。因此他决定出发去拜访他们，以此增进自己的知识。
第一颗小行星居住着一位国王。穿着紫色的王族貂皮。他坐在简单而宏伟的王座上。
“Ah! Here is a subject,” exclaimed the king, when he saw the little prince coming.
And the little prince asked himself:
“How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before?”
He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them, all men are subjects.
“Approach, so that I may see you better,” said the king, who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.
The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to sit down; but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the king’s magnificent ermine robe. So he remained standing upright, and, since he was tired, he yawned.
小王子感觉很奇怪：“他从没看过我怎么就知道我是谁呢？”
他并不知道，对于国王说，所有人都是臣民。
“过来，让我看清楚点。”终于拥有子民了，他趾高气扬。
小王子想找一个地方坐下，但是整颗星球都被国王的袍子塞满了。所以他只得保持站立，因为累了，他打了和哈欠。
“It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king,” the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.”
“I can’t help it. I can’t stop myself,” replied the little prince, thoroughly embarrassed. “I have come on a long journey, and I have had no sleep…”
“Ah, then,” the king said. “I order you to yawn. It is years since I have seen anyone yawning. Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity. Come, now! Yawn again! It is an order.”
“That frightens me… I cannot, any more…” murmured the little prince, now completely abashed.
“Hum! Hum! ” replied the king. “Then I — I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to–”
He sputtered a little, and seemed vexed.
in the presence of sb.当着某人的面
Yawns, to me, are objects of curiosity.打哈欠对我而言这是个新奇的东西。
国王说到：“当着国王的面打哈欠可是违反礼仪的，我禁止你这样做。”
小王子有点尴尬的说：“我忍不住呀，我走了好久才到这里，中途还没有睡觉……”
国王说：“这样啊，我命令你打哈欠。看到有人打哈欠这事儿还是今年第一次。打哈欠对我来说是件新鲜事。快！打哈欠！这是命令”
“你吓到我了……我现在打不出了……”小王小声的说，蜜汁尴尬。
国王回答到：“哼！哼！那我命令你一会儿打一会儿不……”
他有点语无伦次，看起来被气到了。
For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected. He tolerated no disobedience. He was an absolute monarch. But, because he was a very good man, he made his orders reasonable.
“If I ordered a general,” he would say, by way of example, “if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird, and if the general did not obey me, that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.”
insist upon 坚持
tolerated no disobedience 不能容忍抗命
absolute monarch 专制君主
by way of example 例如
国王最关心的是人们应该敬重他的权威。他不能容忍抗命。他是一个专制君主。但是他个良善之辈，他的命令都是通情达理的。
例如他会说：“要是我向一个将军下令，要他变成一只海鸟。假如他抗命的话，那不是他的错，是我的错”。
“May I sit down?” came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.
“I order you to do so,” the king answered him, and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.
But the little prince was wondering… The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule?
“Sire,” he said to him, “I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question–”
“I order you to ask me a question,” the king hastened to assure him.
“Sire — over what do you rule?”
“Over everything,” said the king, with magnificent simplicity.
“Over everything?”
The king made a gesture, which took in his planet, the other planets, and all the stars.
“Over all that? ” asked the little prince.
“Over all that,” the king answered.
For his rule was not only absolute: it was also universal.
“And the stars obey you?”
“Certainly they do,” the king said. “They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.”
hasten to do sth 急忙做某事
Sire-over陛下
“我能坐下吗？”小王子羞涩的请求到。
国王回答到：“我命令你坐下”，然后国王收了收袍子。
但是小王子在想……星球这么小。这个国王到底统治了啥啊？
他对国王说：“陛下，请原谅，我想问一个问题”
国王忙不迭地保证：“我命令你问一个问题”
“陛下，你到底统治了什么啊？”
“所有”国王轻描淡写的说到。
“所有？”
国王指指他的星球、其他星球、所有星球。
小王子问到：“这些都是？”
国王回答道：“这些都是”
因为他不但是专制君主，还是宇宙之王。
所有的星星都听命您吗？
“当然”，国王回答道。“它们令出即行，我不允许反抗。”
Such power was a thing for the little prince to marvel at. If he had been master of such complete authority, he would have been able to watch the sunset, not forty-four times in one day, but seventy-two, or even a hundred, or even two hundred times, without ever having to move his chair. And because he felt a bit sad as he remembered his little planet which he had forsaken, he plucked up his courage to ask the king a favor:
“I should like to see a sunset… Do me that kindness… Order the sun to set…”
pluck up one’s courage 鼓起勇气
如此大的权力让小王子惊奇不已。如果他拥有如此大的权力，他可以不用每天都看44次日落了，他可以每天看71次、看100次、甚至看200次，他都不用费力气去移动椅子。这让他有点伤心，他想起了他那颗被他遗弃的小星球，他鼓起勇气请求国王：
“我想要看日落……请帮我个忙……命令太阳落下”
carry out 实施，执行
“假如我命令一个将军像蝴蝶一样从一朵花飞去另一朵，或者让他去写个悲剧，或变成海鸟。如果将军没有执行他收到的命令，我俩直接谁错了？”国王问到，“是将军？还是我？”
小王子肯定地说：“你”
“正如你所说，一个人必须要求别人力所能及的事情，”国王继续道：“权威首先应该建立在理性的基础上。如果你让你的人们去跳海，他们会揭竿起义。人们服从我的权力是因为我的命令是合乎情理的”
“Then my sunset? ” the little prince reminded him: for he never forgot a question once he had asked it.
“You shall have your sunset. I shall command it. But, according to my science of government, I shall wait until conditions are favorable.”
“When will that be? ” inquired the little prince.
“Hum! Hum!” replied the king; and before saying anything else he consulted a bulky almanac. “Hum! Hum! That will be about — about — that will be this evening about twenty minutes to eight. And you will see how well I am obeyed!”
“那我要求的日落呢？”小王子提醒他，他从不忘记他曾经问过的问题。
“你将会看到你的日落。我将会命令它。由于要科学地管理国家，我需要等到条件成熟。”
“什么时候？”小王子问到
“哼！哼！”国王回答道，他翻开一本大黄历：“大概是7点40的时候。到时候你会见到他们怎样执行我的命令”
The little prince yawned. He was regretting his lost sunset. And then, too, he was already beginning to be a little bored.
“I have nothing more to do here,” he said to the king. “So I shall set out on my way again.”
“Do not go,” said the king, who was very proud of having a subject. “Do not go. I will make you a Minister!”
“Minister of what?”
“Minister of — of Justice!”
“But there is nobody here to judge!”
“我在这没事可干了，”他对国王说，“我该启程出发了。”
“不要走”，国王急于留住他这个唯一的子民。“不要走，我给你当个部长！”
“什么部？”
“司法部!”
“但是这里可没人让我审批啊!”
“We do not know that,” the king said to him. “I have not yet made a complete tour of my kingdom. I am very old. There is no room here for a carriage. And it tires me to walk.”
“Oh, but I have looked already! ” said the little prince, turning around to give one more glance to the other side of the planet. On that side, as on this, there was nobody at all…
“Then you shall judge yourself,” the king answered. “that is the most difficult thing of all. It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”
“Yes,” said the little prince, “but I can judge myself anywhere. I do not need to live on this planet.”
it tires me to walk 走路对我来说很累
“我们可不知道”，国王对他说，“我还没有巡视我过我的王国呢？我已经很老了。这里也没空间放下一顶轿子了，我也不想走路。”
“噢，可我已经看完了！”小王子说，他回头看了看星球的其他地方,渺无人烟。
“那你可以审批你自己啊”，国王回答道。“这可是世上最难的事情了。审批自己可比审批别人难多了。如果你成功的进行了自我批判，你就是一个有着真知灼见的人。”
“是的”，小王子说，“但我在任何地方都能自我批判，不用呆着这个星球上”
“Hum! Hum! ” said the king. “I have good reason to believe that somewhere on my planet there is an old rat. I hear him at night. You can judge this old rat. From time to time you will condemn him to death. Thus his life will depend on your justice. But you will pardon him on each occasion; for he must be treated thriftily. He is the only one we have.”
“I,” replied the little prince, “do not like to condemn anyone to death. And now I think I will go on my way.”
“No,” said the king.
But the little prince, having now completed his preparations for departure, had no wish to grieve the old monarch.
国王说到：“哼!我确信在我的星球上有一只老耗子。晚上我经常听到它的声音。你 能审判这只老耗子。三不三的你可以判它个死刑，所以它是死是活就看你的审批了。但是每一次你都要宽恕它。它必须被节俭使用。不然就没得用了啊”
小王子回答道：“我才不想判别人死刑呢。我觉得我应该上路了。”
国王说：“不”
小王子已经准备好出发了，但他不想伤国王的心。
