【Chapter 1】The Little Prince(小王子)

joker11111

Chapter 1

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion. "

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat? "

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:

"That is a hat. "

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

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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 ）

joker11111

自己先占个楼准备翻译

填坑：
当我6岁的时候，我曾在一本自然书本里的实事故事中看到关于原始森林的图，这幅图对我来说意义非凡。它是一张蟒蛇正在吞食一个动物的照片。类似于下面这张图。

书上写道：蛇会把猎物完整的吞下去，并不咀嚼，在这之后，它们会停止移动，甚至于睡上大半年以确保有足够长的时间去消化猎物。

我陷入无边的沉思，想象着丛林奇遇。之后我用彩色铅笔成功的完成了我第一幅画作。我的一号作品，它看起来像这样：

我向大人们展示着自己的杰作，并且问他们是否有感到害怕。

但是他们回答说：“害怕？谁会被一顶帽子吓到？”

我画的明明不是一顶帽子，是蛇吞了一只大象的画啊。但是大人们似乎不能理解它，然后我作了另一幅画：我将蛇肚子里的内容画了出来，以至于大人们能够清楚的看明白。他们总是需要解释的东西。我的二号作品看起来就像这样：

这次，大人们劝我别再画什么大蟒蛇了，无论是肚子里面还是从肚子外面，应该将我的精力放在地理，历史，算术和语法上。这也是为什么在6岁的时候我就放弃了成为一个伟大画家的梦想。我一度对自己的一号作品和二号作品感到非常沮丧。大人们从来没有理解它们，总是要给他们解释这是什么东西读一个小孩来说是非常疲累的。

因此我选择了另一个职业，飞行员。我已经飞过全世界很多地方。一个事实是地理确实对我来说非常有用。我一眼就能区分出中国和亚利桑那州。如果某一天我迷路了，这种知识是非常有用的。


在我的工作中，我曾和许多重要的人有着多次接触。我生活在成年人中间，近距离密切的观察着他们，但是这并没有改变我对他们的看法。

无论何时当我遇到一个看起来比较开明智慧的人，我都试图向他展示我的一号作品（我一直带在身边，想要找到可以理解它的人），但是，所有人都会说：这是一顶帽子。

然后我再也不和别人谈论大蟒蛇或者原始森林或者星星了，我试图降低自己的水平跟他们谈论桥梁，高尔夫，政治，领带；然后大人们似乎非常高兴，仿佛他们结交了一个非常明白事理的人。

alltolove

很好的小故事

joker11111

alltolove 发表于 2017-2-22 14:03
很好的小故事

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