【Chapter 15】The Little Prince(小王子)
Chapter 15The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer! " he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!
"Where do you come from? " the old gentleman said to him.
"What is that big book? " said the little prince. "What are you doing? "
"I am a geographer," said the old gentleman.
"What is a geographer? " asked the little prince.
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts. "
"That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession! " And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans? "
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah! " The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains? "
"I couldn't tell you," said the geographer.
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts? "
"I couldn't tell you that, either. "
"But you are a geographer! "
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven't a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer's moral character. "
"Why is that? "
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much. "
"Why is that? " asked the little prince.
"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one. "
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer. "
"That is possible.
Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery. "
"One goes to see it? "
"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it. "
The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.
"But you--you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me! "
And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink.
"Well? " said the geographer expectantly.
"Oh, where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows. "
"One never knows," said the geographer.
"I have also a flower. "
"We do not record flowers," said the geographer.
"Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet! "
"We do not record them," said the geographer, "because they are ephemeral. "
"What does that mean--'ephemeral'? "
"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things. "
"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'? "
"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change. "
"But what does that mean--'ephemeral'? " repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it.
"It means, 'which is in danger of speedy disappearance. '"
"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance? "
"Certainly it is. "
"My flower is ephemeral," the little prince said to himself, "and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet, all alone! "
That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.
"What place would you advise me to visit now? " he asked.
"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. "It has a good reputation. "
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
更多章节请点我
这位鱼油，如果喜欢本系列The Little Prince(小王子)帖子，请订阅 专辑☞（传送门）（不喜欢更要订阅 ） 小王子的花没准早死了，也没人浇水 inquiry :an act of asking for information. 询问
intoxicated ：喝醉
ephemeral：lasting for a very short time.
看到这章的时候有点心疼小王子，当他一直追问ephemeral是什么意思的时候，地理家告诉他玫瑰花是短暂的，它会消失的。原来小王子满心以为玫瑰花有4根刺可以保护自己，似乎有点放心的，理所当然的就离开周游世界的时候，到现在，却突然告诉他玫瑰花是短暂的，它是会消失的，不敢想小王子当时的内心活动，该是多么担心玫瑰花啊！那对于他而言独一无二的玫瑰花！
几则读后感分享：
一个从来不探险的地理学家， 个人不喜欢。 花儿会永远在小王子的脑袋里，记不记录都是不朽的。 小王子忽然为离开无助的花儿而自责，之谓牵挂。 但是他仍然继续探险， 你说原因是什么呢？
很多人都有疑问看到这里为什么小王子还不回去，我想，那是因为他虽然心系着花儿，但是他还没有体会到真正的爱的意义，还没真正体会到离别的意味，还没遇到狐狸给他的深刻，没遇到玫瑰园的震撼
【We write of eternal things./What does that mean-- 'ephemeral'?】The temporary and the permanent... The ephemeral and the eternal... 有首民歌唱到：“太阳落山明天一样爬上来，花儿谢了明年还是一样的开，美丽小鸟一去无影踪，我的青春小鸟一样不回来…”孰知明日的太阳也同人一般衰老了一日，孰知明年的花儿如一代代更替的人一般早已不是原来的那批。孔子望着滚滚江河，慨叹：“逝者如斯夫，不分日夜。”赫拉克利特也坚信：“人不可能两次踏进同样的一条河。” So maybe, the eternity that we believe is just another form of ephemerality.
为什么这几个星球的人只要看到小王子就觉得他是某种人，比如国王看到的是臣子，虚荣者看到的是仰慕者。。。除了那个点灯人，他忙不过来。是否从某种角度说，这些大人的odd是因为他们被权利虚荣等等限制了视野，他们看不到更丰富多彩的世界。 alltolove 发表于 2017-4-4 14:25
小王子的花没准早死了，也没人浇水
就是不知生死才牵肠挂肚{:10_250:}
页:
[1]