小王子 第19期:婀娜的花朵

Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.

然后，在一天的早晨，恰好在太阳升起的时候，她开放了。

And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:

她已经精细地做了那么长的准备工作，却打着哈欠说道：

Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me.

我刚刚睡醒，真对不起，

My petals are still all disarranged.

瞧我的头发还是乱蓬蓬的…

But the little prince could not restrain his admiration: "Oh! How beautiful you are!"

小王子这时再也控制不住自己的爱慕心情：“你是多么美丽啊!”

"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun."

花儿悠然自得地说：“是吧，我是与太阳同时出生的…”

The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest–but how moving–and exciting–she was!

小王子看出了这花儿不太谦虚，可是她确实丽姿动人。

"I think it is time for breakfast," she added an instant later. "If you would have the kindness to think of my needs".

她随后又说道：“现在该是吃早点的时候了吧，请你也想着给我准备一点…”

And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower.

小王子很有些不好意思，于是就拿着喷壶，打来了一壶清清的凉水，浇灌着花儿。

So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity– which was, if the truth be known, a little dificult to deal with.

于是，就这样，这朵花儿就以她那有点敏感多疑的虚荣心折磨着小王子。

One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince: "Let the tigers come with their claws!"

例如，有一天，她向小王子讲起她身上长的四根刺：“老虎，让它张着爪子来吧!”

"There are no tigers on my planet," the little prince objected. "And, anyway, tigers do not eat weeds."

小王子顶了她一句：“在我这个星球上没有老虎，而且，老虎是不会吃草的”。

"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.

花儿轻声说道：“我并不是草。”

Please excuse me.

真对不起。

I am not at all afraid of tigers, she went on, but I have a horror of drafts.

我并不怕什么老虎，可我讨厌穿堂风。

I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?

你没有屏风?

"A horror of drafts–that is bad luck, for a plant," remarked the little prince, and added to himself, "This flower is a very complex creature."

小王子思忖着：“讨厌穿堂风…这对一株植物来说，真不走运，这朵花儿真不大好伺候…”