听书 | The Little Prince（小王子）- 25
《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
01、02、03、04、05、06、07、08、09、10、11、12/13、14、15、16/17、18/19/20、21、22/23、24
"Men," said the little prince, "set out on their way in express trains, but they do not know what they are looking for. Then they rush about, and get excited, and turn round and round..."
And he added:
"It is not worth the trouble..."
The well that we had come to was not like the wells of the Sahara. The wells of the Sahara are mere holes dug in the sand. This one was like a well in a village. But there was no village here, and I thought I must be dreaming...
"It is strange," I said to the little prince. "Everything is ready for use: the pulley, the bucket, the rope..."
He laughed, touched the rope, and set the pulley to working. And the pulley moaned, like an old weathervane which the wind has long since forgotten.
"Do you hear?" said the little prince. "We have wakened the well, and it is singing..."
I did not want him to tire himself with the rope.
"Leave it to me," I said. "It is too heavy for you."
I hoisted the bucket slowly to the edge of the well and set it there-- happy, tired as I was, over my achievement. The song of the pulley was still in my ears, and I could see the sunlight shimmer in the still trembling water.
"I am thirsty for this water," said the little prince. "Give me some of it to drink..."
And I understood what he had been looking for.
I raised the bucket to his lips. He drank, his eyes closed. It was as sweet as some special festival treat. This water was indeed a different thing from ordinary nourishment. Its sweetness was born of the walk under the stars, the song of the pulley, the effort of my arms. It was good for the heart, like a present. When I was a little boy, the lights of the Christmas tree, the music of the Midnight Mass, the tenderness of smiling faces, used to make up, so, the radiance of the gifts I received.
"The men where you live," said the little prince, "raise five thousand roses in the same garden-- and they do not find in it what they are looking for."
"They do not find it," I replied.
"And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water."
"Yes, that is true," I said.
And the little prince added:
"But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart..."
I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise the sand is the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me, then, this sense of grief?
"You must keep your promise," said the little prince, softly, as he sat down beside me once more.
"What promise?"
"You know-- a muzzle for my sheep... I am responsible for this flower..."
I took my rough drafts of drawings out of my pocket. The little prince looked them over, and laughed as he said:
"Your baobabs-- they look a little like cabbages."
"Oh!"
I had been so proud of my baobabs!
"Your fox-- his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long."
And he laughed again.
"You are not fair, little prince," I said. "I don't know how to draw anything except boa constrictors from the outside and boa constrictors from the inside."
"Oh, that will be all right," he said, "children understand."
So then I made a pencil sketch of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him my heart was torn.
"You have plans that I do not know about," I said.
But he did not answer me. He said to me, instead:
"You know-- my descent to the earth... Tomorrow will be its anniversary."
Then, after a silence, he went on:
"I came down very near here."
And he flushed.
And once again, without understanding why, I had a queer sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:
"Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you-- a week ago-- you were strolling along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?"
The little prince flushed again.
And I added, with some hesitancy:
"Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?"
The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions-- but when one flushes does that not mean "Yes"?
"Ah," I said to him, "I am a little frightened--"
But he interrupted me.
"Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening..."
But I was not reassured. I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed.
“人们挤进快车，”小王子说，“可是又不知道还要去寻找什么。所以他们忙忙碌碌，转来转去……”
他接着又说：
“其实何必呢……”
我们找到的这口井，跟撒哈拉沙漠的那些井不一样。那些井，只是沙漠上挖的洞而已。这口井很像村庄里的那种井。可这儿根本就没有村庄呀，我觉得自己在做梦。
“真奇怪，”我对小王子说，“样样都是现成的：辘轳，水桶，吊绳……”
他笑了，拉住吊绳，让辘轳转起来。辘轳咕咕作响，就像一只吹不到风、沉睡已久的旧风标发出的声音。
“你听见吗，”小王子说，“我们唤醒了这口井，它在唱歌呢……”
我不想让他多用力气：
“让我来吧，”我说，“这活儿对你来说太重了。”
我把水桶缓缓地吊到井栏上，稳稳地搁住。辘轳的歌声还在耳边响着，而在依
“人们挤进快车，”小王子说，“可是又不知道还要去寻找什么。所以他们忙忙碌碌，转来转去……”
他接着又说：
“其实何必呢……”
我们找到的这口井，跟撒哈拉沙漠的那些井不一样。那些井，只是沙漠上挖的洞而已。这口井很像村庄里的那种井。可这儿根本就没有村庄呀，我觉得自己在做梦。
“真奇怪，”我对小王子说，“样样都是现成的：辘轳，水桶，吊绳……”
他笑了，拉住吊绳，让辘轳转起来。辘轳咕咕作响，就像一只吹不到风、沉睡已久的旧风标发出的声音。
“你听见吗，”小王子说，“我们唤醒了这口井，它在唱歌呢……”
我不想让他多用力气：
“让我来吧，”我说，“这活儿对你来说太重了。”
我把水桶缓缓地吊到井栏上，稳稳地搁住。辘轳的歌声还在耳边响着，而在依
“我想喝水，”小王子说，“给我喝吧……”
我这时明白了他在寻找的是什么！
我把水桶举到他的嘴边。他喝着水，眼睛没张开。水像节日一般美好。它已经不只是一种维持生命的物质。它来自星光下的跋涉，来自辘轳的歌唱，来自臂膀的用力。它像礼物一样愉悦着心灵。当我是个小男孩时，圣诞树的灯光，午夜弥撒的音乐，人们甜蜜的微笑，都曾像这样辉映着我收到的圣诞礼物，让它熠熠发光。
“你这儿的人，”小王子说，“在一座花园里种出五千朵玫瑰，却没能从中找到自己要找的东西……”
“他们是没能找到……”我应声说。
“然而他们要找的东西，在一朵玫瑰或者一点儿水里就能找到……”
“可不是，”我应声说。
小王子接着说：
“但是用眼是看不见的。得用心去找。”
我喝了水。我痛快地呼吸着空气。沙漠在晨曦中泛出蜂蜜的色泽。这种蜂蜜的色泽，也使我心头洋溢着幸福的感觉。我为什么要难过呢……
“你该实践自己的诺言了，”小王子柔声对我说，他这会儿又坐在了我的身边。
“什么诺言？”
“你知道的……给我的羊画个嘴罩……我要对我的花儿负责！”
我从衣袋里掏出几幅画稿。小王子瞥了一眼，笑着说：
“你的猴面包树呀，有点像白菜……”
“哦！”
可我还为这几棵猴面包树感到挺得意哩！
“你的狐狸……它的耳朵……有点像两只角……再说也太长了！”
说着他又笑了起来。
“你不公平，小家伙，我可就画过剖开的和不剖开的蟒蛇，别的都没学过。”
“噢！这就行了，”他说，“孩子们会看懂的。”
我用铅笔画了一只嘴罩。把画递给他时，我的心揪紧了：
“你有些什么打算，我都不知道……”
但他没回答，却对我说：
“你知道，我降落到地球上……到明天就满一年了……”
然后，一阵静默过后，他又说道：
“我就落在这儿附近……”
说着他的脸红了起来。
我也不知是什么原因，只觉得又感到一阵异样的忧伤。可是我想到了一个问题：
“这么说，一星期前我遇见你的那个早晨，你独自在这片荒无人烟的沙漠里走来，并不是偶然的了？你是要回到当初降落的地方来吧？”
小王子的脸又红了。
我有些犹豫地接着说：
“也许，是为了周年纪念？……”
小王子脸又红了。他往往不回答人家的问题，但他脸一红，就等于在说“对的”，可不是吗？
“哎！”我对他说，“我怕……”
他却回答我说：
“现在你该去工作了。你得回到你的飞机那儿去。我在这儿等你。明天晚上再来吧……”
可是我放心不下。我想起了狐狸的话。一个人要是被驯养过，恐怕难免要哭的…