听书 | The Little Prince（小王子）- 24

《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

朗读 Peter Ustinov【英】 | 译者：周克希

It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply. 

"Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!" 

"My friend the fox--" the little prince said to me. 

"My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!" 

"Why not?" 

"Because I am about to die of thirst..." 

He did not follow my reasoning, and he answered me: 

"It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend..." 

"He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..." 

But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought: 

"I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..." 

I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking. 

When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince's last words came reeling back into my memory: 

"Then you are thirsty, too?" I demanded. 

But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me: 

"Water may also be good for the heart..." 

I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him. 

He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again: 

"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen." 

I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight. 

"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added. 

And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams... 

"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..." 

I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart... 

"Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert-- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!" 

"I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox." 

As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible..." 

As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: "What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower-- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep..." And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind... 

And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak.

这是我降落在沙漠后的第八天，我听着这个商人的故事，喝完了最后一滴备用水。

“喔！”我对小王子说，“你的回忆很动人，可是我飞机还没修好，水也喝完了，要是我能朝泉水走去，那真是有福了！”

“我那狐狸朋友……”他说。

“小家伙，这可不干狐狸的事！”

“为什么？”

“因为我快要渴死了……”

他没明白我的思路，回答我说：

“有朋友真好，即使就要死了，我也还是这么想。我真高兴，有过一个狐狸朋友……”

“他没明白情势有多凶险，”我心想，“他从来不知道饥渴。只要有点阳光，他就足够了……”

然而他注视着我，好像知道我心里在想什么：

“我也渴……我们去找一口井吧……”

我做了个表示厌烦的手势：在一望无垠的沙漠中，漫无目标地去找井，简直是荒唐。然而，我们到底还是上路了。

默默地走了几个钟头以后，夜幕降临了，星星在天空中闪烁起来。由于渴得厉害，我有点发烧，望着天上的星星，仿佛在梦中。小王子的话在脑海里盘旋舞蹈。

“你也渴？”我问。

他没有回答我的问题，只对我说：

“水对心灵也有好处……”

我没听懂他的话，但我没作声……我知道，这会儿不该去问他。

他累了。他坐了下来。我坐在他身旁。沉默了一会儿，他又说：

“星星很美，因为有一朵看不见的花儿……”

我说了声“可不是”，就静静地注视着月光下沙漠的褶皱。

“沙漠很美，”他又说。

没错。我一向喜欢沙漠。我们坐在一个沙丘上。什么也看不见。什么也听不见。然而有什么东西在寂静中发出光芒……

“沙漠这么美，”小王子说，“是因为有个地方藏着一口井……”

我非常吃惊，突然间明白了沙漠发光的奥秘。我小时候住在一座老宅里，传说宅子里埋着宝藏。当然，从来没人发现过这宝藏，或许根本没人寻找过它。但是它使整座宅子变得令人着迷。我的宅子在心灵深处藏着一个秘密……

“对，”我对小王子说，“不管是宅子，还是星星或沙漠，使它们变美的东西，都是看不见的！”

“我很高兴，”他说，“你和狐狸的看法一样了。”

看小王子睡着了，我把他抱起来，重新上路。我很激动。我觉得就像捧着一件易碎的宝贝。我甚至觉得在地球上，再没有更娇弱的东西了。我在月光下看着他苍白的前额，紧闭的眼睛，还有那随风飘动的发绺，在心里对自己说：“我所看到的只是外貌。最重要的东西是看不见的……”

当他微微张开的嘴唇绽出一丝笑意时，我又对自己说：“在这个熟睡的小王子身上，最让我感动的，是他对一朵花儿的忠贞，这朵玫瑰的影像，即使在他睡着时，仍然在他身上发出光芒，就像一盏灯的火焰一样……”这时我把他想得更加娇弱了。应该好好保护灯火呵，一阵风就会吹灭它……

就这样走啊走啊，我在拂晓时发现了水井。

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