All grown-ups were once children—although few of them remember it.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

There is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes…….

“You know—one loves the sunset when one is so sad……”
“Were you so sad then?” I asked,” on the day of the forty-three sunsets?”
But the little prince made no reply.

His face turned from white to red as he continued:
“If someone loves a flower of which just one single blossom grows in all the millions and millions of stars, it is enough to make him happy just to look at the stars. He can say to himself,‘Somewhere my flower is there…..’But if the sleep eats the flowers, in one moment all his stars will be darkened…….And you think that is not important!”
He could not say anything more. His words were chocked by sobbing.

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

The shrub (矮树、灌木)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(浮现、形成、出现、显露)from it. But the flower was not satisfied to complete the preparations for her beauty in the shelter of her green chamber(室、房间). She chose her colours with the greatest care. She adjusted her petals one by one. She did not wish to go out into the world all rumpled(凌乱的)like the field poppies(罂粟花). It was only in the full radiance(光辉、发光)of her beauty that she wished to appear. Oh, yes!

And after working with all this painstaking(辛苦、苦心、工夫)precision(精密、精确), she yawned and said:
“Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still disarranged….”
But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:
“Oh! How beautiful you are!”
“Am I not?” the flower responded sweetly.” And I was born at the same moment as the sun….”

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 importance and it made him very unhappy. （所以小王子虽然很愿意去爱护她，但也很快产生了怀疑。小王子总是把她的话当真，但很多话她其实只是随口说说而已，这让小王子很不高兴。）

And when he watered the flower for the last time and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass, he realized that he was very close to tears.
“Goodbye,” he said to the flower.
But she made no answer.
“Goodbye,” he said again.
The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.
“I have been silly,” she said to him at last, “I asked your forgiveness. Try to be happy….”
He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered(困惑的), the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.
“Of course, I love you,” the flower said to him. “It is my fault that you have not known it all the while. That is of no importance. But you—you have been just as foolish as I. Try to be happy……let the glass be. I don’t want it anymore.”
“But the wind— “
“My cold is not so bad as all that……. the cool night air will do me good. I am a flower.”
“But the animals— “
“Well, I must endure(忍耐) the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies. It seems that they are very beautiful. And if not the butterflies—and the caterpillars—who will call upon me? You will be far away……as for the large animals—I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.”
And naively(天真的) she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
“Don’t linger(逗留，消磨，徘徊) like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!”
For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower……

He breathed a sigh of regret and said to himself again:
“That man is the only one of them all whom I could have made my friend. But his planet is indeed too small. There is no room on it for two people…...”
What the little prince did not dare confess(承认，坦白，忏悔，供认)was that he was sorry most of all to leave his planet because it was blest(幸福的，神圣的) every day with 1440 sunsets!

“Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?”
“Certainly it is.”
“My flower is ephemeral(短命的，短暂的，朝生暮死的)，” the little prince said to himself,” and she has only four thorns to defend herself against the world. And I have left her on my planet all alone!”

“I wonder,” he said,” whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again…… Look at my planet. It is right there above us. But how far away it is!” (我在想，他说，星星那么亮，是不是为了让每个人终有一天能回到自己的星球？你看看我的星球，它就在我的们的上方……但它离得太远啦。)

“I can carry you farther than any ship could take you,” said the snake.
He twined himself around the little prince’s ankle like a golden bracelet(手镯).”
“Whomever I touch I send back to the earth from whence(来处、根源) he came,” the snake spoke again,” But you are innocent and true and you come from a star……”
The little prince made no reply.
“You move me to pity—you are so weak on this Earth made of granite,” the snake said,” I can help you some day, if you grow too homesick for your own planet. I can— “
“Oh! I understand you very well,” said the little prince,” But why do you always speak in riddles?”
“I solve them all,” said the snake.
And they were both silent.

And he was overcome(战胜) with sadness. His flower had told him that she was the only one of her kind in all the universe. And here were five thousand of them all alike in one single garden.
“She would be very much annoyed,” he said to himself,“if she should see that……she would cough most dreadfully(非常、可怕的)and she would pretend that she was dying to avoid being laughed at. And I should obliged(要求、约束)to pretend that to humble(低下的、谦卑的)myself also she would really allow herself to die……”
Then he went on with his reflections:” I thought that I was rich with a flower that was unique in all the world; and all I had was a common rose. A common rose and three volcanoes that come up to my knee—and one of them perhaps extinct forever……that doesn’t make me a very great prince……”
And he lay down in the grass and cried.

“Just that,” said the fox,” to me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world……”

But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music out of my burrow(洞穴). And then look: you see the grain-fields down yonder(那边)？ I don’t eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me. The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain which is also golden will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat……”

“What must I do to tame you?” asked the little prince.
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox,” First you will sit down at a little distance from me—like that—in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me every day……”
The next day the little prince came back.
“It would have been better to come back at the same hour,” said the fox,” If, for example, you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o’clock I shall already be worrying and jumping about(坐立不安). I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time. I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you……”

So, the little prince tamed the fox. And when the hour of his departure drew near—
“Ah,” said the fox,” I shall cry.”
“It is your own fault,” said the little prince.” I never wished you any sort of harm; but you wanted me to tame you……”
“Yes, that is so.” said the fox.
“But now you are going to cry!” said the little prince.
“Yes, that is so.” said the fox.
“Then it has done you no good at all!”
“It has done me good,” said the fox,” because of the color of the wheat fields.” And then he added:
“Go and look again at the roses. You will understand now that yours is unique in all the world. Then come back to say goodbye to me and I will make you a present of a secret.
The little prince went away to look again at the rose.
“You are not all like my rose,”he said,” As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you and you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend and now he is unique in all the world.”
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
“You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he went on.” One could not die for you. To be sure an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you—the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen(挡风板); because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars(except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to when she grumbled(抱怨，嘟囔)or boasted(夸夸其谈)or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.
And he went back to meet the fox.
“Goodbye,” he said.
“Goodbye,” said the fox,” And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is investible to the eye.”
“What is essential is investible to the eye,” the little prince repeated so that he would be sure to remember.
“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“It is the time I have wasted for my rose— “said the little prince so that he would be sure to remember.
“Men have forgotten this truth,” said the fox,” But you must not forget it. You become responsible forever for what you have tamed. You are responsible for your rose……”
“I am responsible for my rose,” the little prince repeated so that he would be sure to remember.

“Were they not satisfied where they were?” asked the little prince.
“No one is ever satisfied where he is,” said the switchmen.
And they heard the roaring(咆哮的，轰鸣的)thunder of a third brilliantly lighted express.
“Are they pursuing the first travelers?” demanded the little prince.
“They are pursuing nothing at all,” said the switchman.” They are asleep in there or if they are not asleep they are yawning. Only the children are flattening(压扁)their noses against the windowpanes.”
“Only the children know what they are looking for,” said the little prince,” They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry…….”
“They are lucky,” the switchman said.

“Why are you selling those?” asked the little prince.
“Because they save a tremendous amount of time,” said the merchant,” Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week.”
“And what do I do with those fifty-three minutes?”
“Anything you like……”
“As for me,” said the little prince to himself,” if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked. I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water.”

“My friend the fox— “the little prince said to me.
“My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!”
“Why not?”
“Because I am about to die of thirst……”
He did not follow my reasoning and he answered me:
“It is a good thing to have had a friend even if one is about to die. I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend….”

“Then you are thirsty, too?” I demanded.
But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:
“Water may also be good for the heart……”

“The stars are beautiful because of a flower that cannot be seen.”
“What makes the desert beautiful,” said the little prince,” is that somewhere it hides a well……”

As the little prince dropped off to sleep. I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved and stirred(搅动). It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me even that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight, I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that tremble in the wind and I said to myself:” What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is the most important is invisible……”
As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile. I said to myself again:” What moves me so deeply about this little prince who is sleeping here is his loyalty to a flower—the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp(那朵花的模样也像灯火般在他心里闪耀), even when he is asleep……”And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished(熄灭、灭绝) by a little puff（吹，一阵喷烟） of wind……
And as I walked on so, I found the well at daybreak.

But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart……”
I had drunk the water. I breathed easily. At sunrise, the sand was the color of honey. And that honey color was making me happy, too. What brought me then this sense of grief(忧伤、忧愁、悲痛、不幸)？

“Your baobabs—they look a little like cabbages.”
“Oh!”
I had been so proud of my baobabs!
“Your fox—his ears look a little like horns; and they are too long.” And he laughed again.

So then I made a pencil sketch(素描、草图)of a muzzle. And as I gave it to him, my heart was torn.
“You have plans that I do not know about.” I said.
But he did not answer me. He said to me instead:
“You know—my descent(下降)to the earth……Tomorrow will be its anniversary.”
Then after a silence, he went on:
“I came down very near here.”
And he flushed(脸发红).
And once again without understanding why I had a queer(奇怪的，不舒服的)sense of sorrow. One question, however, occurred to me:
“Then it was not by chance that on the morning when I first met you—a week ago—you were strolling(散步)along like that, all alone, a thousand miles from any inhabited region? You were on the your back to the place where you landed?”
The little prince flushed again.
And I added with some hesitancy(犹豫、踌躇).
“Perhaps it was because of the anniversary?”
The little prince flushed once more. He never answered questions—but when one flushed does that not mean” Yes”?
“Ah,” I said to him,” I am a little frightened— “
But he interrupted me.
“Now you must work. You must return to your engine. I will be waiting for you here. Come back tomorrow evening……”
But I was not reassured(使放心的)I remembered the fox. One runs the risk of weeping a little, if one lets himself be tamed……

Once again I felt myself frozen by the sense of something irreparable(不能修补的，不能挽回的). And I knew that I could not hear the thought of never hearing that laughter anymore. For me, it was like a spring of fresh water in the desert.

“It is just like as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are abloom(开花的)with flowers…..”

“And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so, you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens……they will all be your friends. And, besides, I am going to make you a present……”
He laughed again.
“Ah, little prince, dear little prince! I love to hear that laughter!”
“That is my present. Just that. It will be as it was when we drank the water……”
“In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so, it will be as if all the stars were laughing when you look at the sky at night……you--only you—will have stars that can laugh!”

“And when your sorrow is comforted( time soothes(安慰，使平静)all sorrows) you will be content you have known me. You will always be my friends. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your windows, so, for the pleasure(因为这个缘故)……and your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! Then you will say to them,’ Yes, the stars always make me laugh!’ And they will think you are crazy. It will be a very shabby(低劣的，卑鄙的，吝啬的)trick that I shall have played on you……”
And he laughed again.
“It will be as if in place of the stars. I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh……”
And he laughed again. Then he quickly became serious；
“Tonight—you know……do not come,” said the little prince.
“I shall not leave you.”I said.
“I shall look as if I were suffering. I shall look a little as if I were dying. It is like that. Do not come to see that. It is not worth the trouble……”
“I shall not leave you.”

“You understand……it is too far. I cannot carry this body with me. It is too heavy.”
“But it will be like an old abandoned shell. There is nothing sad about old shells……”
“You know, it will be very nice. I, too, shall look at the stars. All the stars will be wells with a rusty pulley(生锈的转轮). All the stars will pour out fresh water for me to drink……”
“That will be so amusing! You will have five hundred million little bells and I shall have five hundred million springs of fresh water……”
“You know—my flower……I am responsible for her. And she is so weak! She is so naïve! She has four thorns, of no use at all, to protect herself against all the world……”