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，恰好在太陽升起的時候，她開放了。

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

她已經精細地做了那么長的準備工作，卻打著哈欠說道：

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

我剛剛睡醒，真對不起，

My petals are still all disarranged.

瞧我的頭發(fā)還是亂蓬蓬的…

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

小王子這時再也控制不住自己的愛慕心情：“你是多么美麗啊!”

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

花兒悠然自得地說：“是吧，我是與太陽同時出生的…”

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

小王子看出了這花兒不太謙虛，可是她確實麗姿動人。

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

她隨后又說道：“現在該是吃早點的時候了吧，請你也想著給我準備一點…”

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，于是就拿著噴壺，打來了一壺清清的涼水，澆灌著花兒。

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，就這樣，這朵花兒就以她那有點敏感多疑的虛榮心折磨著小王子。

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，她向小王子講起她身上長的四根刺：“老虎，讓它張著爪子來吧!”

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

小王子頂了她一句：“在我這個星球上沒有老虎，而且，老虎是不會吃草的”。

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

花兒輕聲說道：“我并不是草。”

Please excuse me.

真對不起。

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，可我討厭穿堂風。

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

你沒有屏風?

"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."

小王子思忖著：“討厭穿堂風…這對一株植物來說，真不走運，這朵花兒真不大好伺候…”