小王子 第10期:變老

Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his sheep.

我的朋友帶著他的小羊已經(jīng)離去六年了。

If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him.

我之所以在這里盡力把他描寫出來，就是為了不要忘記他。

To forget a friend is sad.

忘記一個朋友，這太叫人悲傷了。

Not every one has had a friend.

并不是所有的人都有過一個朋友。

And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures...

再說，我也可能變成那些大人那樣，只對數(shù)字感興趣。

It is for that purpose, again, that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils.

也正是為了這個緣故，我買了一盒顏料和一些鉛筆。

It is hard to take up drawing again at my age,

像我這樣年紀的人，

when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside, since I was six.

而且除了六歲時畫過閉著肚皮的和開著肚皮的巨蟒外，別的什么也沒有嘗試過，現(xiàn)在，重新再來畫畫，真費勁啊!

I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible.

當然，我一定要把這些畫盡量地畫得逼真，

But I am not at all sure of success.

但我自己也沒有把握。

One drawing goes along all right, and another has no resemblance to its subject.

一張畫得還可以，另一張就不象了。

I make some errors, too, in the little prince's height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short.

還有身材大小，我畫得有點不準確。在這個地方小王子畫得太大了些，另一個地方又畫得太小了些。

And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume.

對他衣服的顏色我也拿不準。

So I fumble along as best I can, now good, now bad, and I hope generally fair-to-middling.

于是我就摸索著這么試試那么改改，畫個大概齊。

In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also.

我很可能在某些重要的細節(jié)上畫錯了。

But that is something that will not be my fault.

這就得請大家原諒我了。

My friend never explained anything to me.

因為我的這個朋友，從來也不加說明解釋。

He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself.

他認為我同他一樣。

But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes.

可是，很遺憾，我卻不能透過盒子看見小羊。

Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups.

我大概有點和大人們差不多。

I have had to grow old.

我一定是變老了。