🔊 The flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all, and were no trouble to anyone. One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would fade peacefully away. But one day, from a seed blown from no one knew where, a new flower had come up; and the little prince had watched very closely over this small sprout which was not like any other small sprouts on his planet. It might, you see, have been a new kind of baobab.

花儿们向来都很朴素。它们只有一圈花瓣；不占什么空间,也不给任何人添麻烦。一天早晨,它们会出现在草地上,到晚上便静静地凋谢。但有一天,从一颗不知从哪儿吹来的种子里,长出了一朵新的花；小王子非常仔细地照看着这个嫩芽,它不像他星球上的任何其他嫩芽。你看,它可能是一种新的猴面包树。

🔊

petals /ˈpetlz/

n. 花瓣

🔊

fade /feɪd/

v. 凋谢,褪色,逐渐消失

🔊

sprout /spraʊt/

n. 新芽,嫩枝

🔊

baobab /ˈbeɪəʊbæb/

n. 猴面包树

🔊 The shrub soon stopped growing and began to get ready to produce a flower. The little prince, who was present at the first appearance of a huge bud, felt at once that some sort of miraculous apparition must emerge from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber. She chose her colors with the greatest care. She dressed herself slowly. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled, like the field poppies. It was only in the full radiance of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes! She was a coquettish creature! And her mysterious adornment lasted for days and days.

灌木很快就停止了生长,开始准备开花。小王子目睹了第一个巨大花蕾的出现,立刻感觉到某种奇迹般的景象必将从中诞生。但这朵花并不满足于在绿色闺房的庇护下完成她美丽的准备。她极其小心地挑选颜色。她慢慢地打扮自己。她一片一片地调整花瓣。她不愿像田野里的罂粟花那样,皱巴巴地出现在世界上。她只想在美丽完全绽放时才露面。哦,是的！她是个爱卖弄风情的家伙！而她神秘的装扮持续了日复一日。

🔊

shrub /ʃrʌb/

n. 灌木

🔊

miraculous /mɪˈrækjələs/

adj. 奇迹般的,不可思议的

🔊

apparition /ˌæpəˈrɪʃn/

n. 幻影,幽灵,神奇的现象

🔊

radiance /ˈreɪdiəns/

n. 光辉,光彩,容光焕发

🔊

coquettish /kɒˈketɪʃ/

adj. 卖弄风情的,娇媚的

🔊

adornment /əˈdɔːnmənt/

n. 装饰,装饰品

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

然后,一天早晨,恰好在日出时分,她突然展现了自己。

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

而且,在经历了所有这些精心的准备之后,她打了个哈欠说:

🔊

painstaking /ˈpeɪnzteɪkɪŋ/

adj. 极其仔细的,辛苦的

🔊

precision /prɪˈsɪʒn/

n. 精确,精准

🔊 "Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged ..."

"啊！我还没完全醒呢。请原谅我。我的花瓣还都乱糟糟的……"

🔊

scarcely /ˈskeəsli/

adv. 几乎不,刚刚

🔊

disarranged /ˌdɪsəˈreɪndʒd/

adj. 凌乱的,弄乱的

🔊 But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:

但小王子忍不住赞叹道:

🔊

restrain /rɪˈstreɪn/

v. 抑制,克制,阻止

🔊 "Oh! How beautiful you are!"

"哦！你真美！"

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

"难道不是吗？"花儿甜甜地回应道。"我和太阳同时诞生……"

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

小王子很容易猜到她并不太谦虚——但她是多么动人——多么令人兴奋！

🔊

modest /ˈmɒdɪst/

adj. 谦虚的,适度的

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

"我想是吃早餐的时候了,"她过了一会儿补充道。"如果你能好心考虑一下我的需要——"

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

小王子完全不知所措,去找了一个洒水壶装新鲜水。于是,他照料着这朵花。

🔊

abashed /əˈbæʃt/

adj. 窘迫的,羞愧的

🔊

sprinkling-can /ˈsprɪŋklɪŋ kæn/

n. 喷壶

🔊

tended /tendɪd/

v. 照料,照管（tend的过去式）

🔊 So, too, she began very quickly to torment him with her vanity—which was, if the truth be known, a little difficult to deal with. One day, for instance, when she was speaking of her four thorns, she said to the little prince:

同样,她很快就开始用她的虚荣心折磨他——说实话,这有点难以应付。例如,有一天,当她谈到她的四根刺时,她对小王子说:

🔊

torment /ˈtɔːment/

v. 折磨,使痛苦

🔊

vanity /ˈvænəti/

n. 虚荣心,自负

🔊 "Let the tigers come with their claws!"

"让老虎带着它们的爪子来吧！"

🔊

claws /klɔːz/

n. 爪,钳

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

"我的星球上没有老虎,"小王子反驳道。"而且,老虎不吃杂草。"

🔊

objected /əbˈdʒektɪd/

v. 反对,提出异议（object的过去式）

🔊 "I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly. "Please excuse me ..."

"我不是杂草,"花儿甜甜地回答道。"请原谅我……"

🔊 "I am not at all afraid of tigers," she went on, "but I have a horror of drafts. I suppose you wouldn't have a screen for me?"

"我一点也不怕老虎,"她继续说,"但我对穿堂风有恐惧。我想你没有屏风给我吧？"

🔊

horror /ˈhɒrə(r)/

n. 恐惧,憎恶

🔊

drafts /drɑːfts/

n. 穿堂风,通风（draft的复数）

🔊

screen /skriːn/

n. 屏风,隔板；屏幕

🔊 "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 ..."

"对穿堂风有恐惧——对植物来说,真是不幸,"小王子评论道,并暗自想道,"这朵花真是个非常复杂的生物……"

🔊

complex /ˈkɒmpleks/

adj. 复杂的,难懂的

🔊 "At night I want you to put me under a glass globe. It is very cold where you live. In the place I came from—"

"晚上我想让你把我放在玻璃罩下。你住的地方很冷。在我来的地方——"

🔊

globe /ɡləʊb/

n. 球体；地球仪；玻璃罩

🔊 But she interrupted herself at that point. She had come in the form of a seed. She could not have known anything of any other worlds. Embarrassed over having let herself be caught on the verge of such a naive untruth, she coughed two or three times, in order to put the little prince in the wrong.

但她在那一刻打断了自己。她是以种子的形式来的。她不可能知道任何其他世界的事情。为自己差点说出如此天真的谎言而感到尴尬,她咳嗽了两三次,以便让小王子觉得是自己的错。

🔊

interrupted /ˌɪntəˈrʌptɪd/

v. 打断,中断（interrupt的过去式）

🔊

verge /vɜːdʒ/

n. 边缘,临界点

🔊

naive /naɪˈiːv/

adj. 天真的,幼稚的

🔊

untruth /ʌnˈtruːθ/

n. 谎言,假话

🔊 "The screen?"

"屏风？"

🔊 "I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me ..."

"我正要去找它,你就跟我说话了……"

🔊 Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.

然后她更用力地咳嗽了几声,好让他同样感到内疚。

🔊

remorse /rɪˈmɔːs/

n. 懊悔,自责

🔊 So the little prince, in spite of all the good will that was inseparable from his love, had soon come to doubt her. He had taken seriously words which were without importance, and it made him very unhappy.

因此,小王子尽管怀着与爱不可分割的所有善意,但很快就对她产生了怀疑。他把无关紧要的话当真了,这让他非常不开心。

🔊

inseparable /ɪnˈsepərəbl/

adj. 不可分割的,形影不离的

🔊 "I ought not to have listened to her," he confided to me one day. "One never ought to listen to the flowers. One should simply look at them and breathe their fragrance. Mine perfumed all my planet. But I did not know how to take pleasure in all her grace. This tale of claws, which disturbed me so much, should only have filled my heart with tenderness and pity."

"我不该听她的话,"有一天他向我倾诉道。"人永远不该听花儿的话。人应该只是看着它们,呼吸它们的芬芳。我的花儿香遍了我的星球。但我不知道如何欣赏她所有的优雅。这个关于爪子的故事,让我如此不安,本应只让我的心充满温柔和怜悯。"

🔊

confided /kənˈfaɪdɪd/

v. 吐露（秘密）,倾诉（confide的过去式）

🔊

fragrance /ˈfreɪɡrəns/

n. 芳香,香味

🔊

perfumed /pəˈfjuːmd/

v. 使充满香气（perfume的过去式）

🔊

grace /ɡreɪs/

n. 优雅,风度；恩典

🔊

tenderness /ˈtendənəs/

n. 温柔,柔情

🔊 And he continued his confidences:

他继续倾诉道:

🔊

confidences /ˈkɒnfɪdənsɪz/

n. 秘密,知心话（confidence的复数）

🔊 "The fact is that I did not know how to understand anything! I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems."

"事实是我不知道如何理解任何事情！我应该根据行为而不是言语来判断。她将她的芬芳和光芒洒在我身上。我永远不该逃离她……我本应猜到她那些可怜的小计谋背后所有的爱意。"

🔊

affection /əˈfekʃn/

n. 喜爱,感情

🔊

stratagems /ˈstrætədʒəmz/

n. 策略,计谋（stratagem的复数）

Chapter VIII (第八章)