“‘昙花一现’--那到底是什么意思嘛--？”小王子重复着他的问题。他只要问了一个问题，没有答案他是不会放弃的。
“它的意思就是，‘很容易就会迅速消失的。’”
“我的花儿也是很容易就迅速消失的吗？”
“花儿当然是这样的。”
“我的花是昙花一现的，”小王子自言自语道，“她只有四根花刺来保护自己不受外界的伤害。而我却把她一个人孤零零地留在我的星球上！”
《小王子》第15章
【本节导读】在这一节中，小王子拜访了地理学家所在的星球。在这一章里，小王子通过与地理学家的相遇，再次向大人们提出了两个问题：1）科学家是如何看待什么是“重要的事情”的；2）什么是转瞬即逝？（ephemeral）。
1）什么是科学？
百度百科对于作为科学体系的中文“科学”的定义是： “（认识宇宙的实践方法）…科学是一个建立在可检验的解释和对客观事物的形式、组织等进行预测的有序的知识系统，是已系统化和公式化了的知识。其对象是客观现象，内容是形式化的科学理论，形式是语言，包括自然语言与数学语言...总而言之，科学就是公式化的知识。”
英语的”Science”在大不列颠百科全书是这样定义的“science”: “是与物质世界及其现象有关的任何一类知识体系，其主要包含了客观的观察和系统的实验。总体来说，一门科学是对普遍本真（truth）和（物质世界）运动的基本原理的知识探索。”
在西方科学中，科学的目的是发现“truth”，即“是什么”，这是科学家们认为“最重要的事情”。其次，科学和所有科学分类及理论均是实现科学目的的方法和手段，即科学是一种工具。第三，科学的内容没有终点，它不是一个已经解决完成了的知识体系，而是在不断扩展和更正。例如，牛顿的万有引力定律和爱因斯坦的广义相对论在今天量子力学的发展下已经被证明在某些条件下是错误的。
科学在欧洲思想发展的历史中，原本属于哲学和信仰哲学的一部分，如今它已经独立于哲学和信仰并与之分道扬镳，也就是说，科学中的”truth”不再考虑任何实用目的和人文意义。
而小王子所一直探索和思考的问题则是一个人文角度的“什么是人生命中最重要的事情”。地理学家所代表的科学是不能给他答案的。
2） 什么是ephemeral 【ɪˈfemərəl]】：“昙花一现的”/“转瞬即逝的”
在这一节中，小王子反复询问物理学家什么是“ephemeral”。这一词之所以如此重要，是因为它涉及到哲学中的一些基本问题，如，生命的意义是什么？（what is the meaning of life），或是，什么东西（如果有的话）才能让生命变得有意义？（what, if any, makes life meaningful?）当尼采宣布上帝死掉以后，他的虚无主义大行其道，而叔本华则对认为追求这种所谓的意义是多么的自大与空洞。
小王子仍旧在寻找这个意义。
恰好，今天看到一个头条，某自媒体人总结自己写作经验说：“人生苦短、大家太忙”, 所以自媒体内容只有关注育儿/工作/吃饭/搞笑/骗眼泪，大家才会感兴趣。我突然就想起了”Ephemeral”这个词。
下面，让我们继续我们的英语原著阅读陪伴计划
【刘博士英语突破学习法】第1步:在上班路上阅读理解并熟读英语原文；第2步：在下班路上，听读原文直到跟上音频；第3步：晚上在家跟读原文，直到熟读。
（如果可能，将英文文本打印出来，作为听读和跟读的主要资料）。
小王子
第15章
小王子拜访地理学家
第六颗行星比比第五颗星球要大十倍。这里住着一位写过许多书的老先生。
“啊，我看见了！来了一个探险家！”当他看到小王子到来时，他兴奋地对自己叫道。
小王子在桌子旁坐下，气喘吁吁地。他已经游历了太多的地方，走了太远的路。
“你是从哪儿来的？”老先生对他说道。
“那本大书是做什么用的？”小王子说，“你是做什么的？”
“我是个地理学家，”老先生对他说。
“地理学家是做什么的？”小王子问。
“地理学家是一个做学问的人，他知道所有的海洋、河流、城镇、山脉、沙漠还有它们的位置。”
“这个太有意思啦，”小王子说，“我终于遇见了一个有真正职业的人啦！”他四处打量着这名地理学家所在的星球。这可是他所见到过的最壮观、最宏大的星球了。
“你的星球好漂亮啊，”小王子说，“这里有海洋吗？”
“这我还真不知道，”地理学家说。
“噢！”小王子有些失望。“这里有大山吗？”
“这个我也不大清楚，”地理学家说。
“那么有城镇、河流和沙漠？”
“这个我也说不上。”
“可你是地理学家呀！”
“你说得没错，”地理学家说道，“但我并不是探险家呀。我的星球上一个探险家也没有。地理学家的工作可不是出去统计城镇、河流、山脉、大海、大洋和沙漠的数量的。地理学家太重要了，没时间游手好闲的。他离不开他的书桌。不过呀，他会在书房里接待那些探险家，向他们问问题，并记下他们所回忆的旅行经历。如果一些探险家所叙述的旅行经历有点意思的话，地理学家就会找人去调查一下这个探险家的品行如何。”
“为什么要这样？”
“因为如果探险家说谎话的话，会给地理学家的著作带来灾难的。酗酒的探险家也是如此。”
“这是为什么呢？”小王子问。
“因为喝醉了的人会把一个东西看成是两个。这样的话，地理学家就会写下某处有两座山，而实际上那儿只有一座山。”
“我认识这样一个人，”小王子说，“他要是当探险家就太糟糕啦。”
“这很有可能。接下来呢，如果调查显示这个探险家的品行很好，地理学家就会对他的发现进行调查。”
“是让人去实地调查吗？”
“不，那样太麻烦了。我们只需要探险家提供证据。比如说，如果我们讨论的发现是一座大山的话，就要求他从山上带几块大石头回来。”
说到这里，地理学家突然激动起来。
“可是你--你就是从很远的地方来的！你就是个探险家呀！你应该给我说说你的星球！”
于是，地理学家翻开他那巨大的登记本，又削尖了他的铅笔。探险家的讲述会先用铅笔记录下来。只有当探险家提供了证据以后，地理学家才会用钢笔将其写下来。
“可以说了吗？”地理学家一脸期待地问道。
“噢，我住的星球呀，”小王子说，“它没什么意思。它上面的东西都太小啦。我有三座火山。两座是活火山，还有一座是死火山。不过没人知道它会不会活过来。”
“没人知道，”地理学家附和说。
“我还有一朵花。”
“我们不记载花这种东西，”地理学家说。
“那是为什么？这朵花儿可是我星球上最漂亮的东西啦！”
“我们不记载它们，”地理学家说，“因为它们是昙花一现的。”
“那是什么意思—‘昙花一现’？”
“地理呀，”地理学家说，“在所有的书籍中，是最关心重要事情的书。他们永不会过时。山脉是极少会挪动地方的。海洋也是极少会干涸的。我们书写的都是永恒的东西。”
“可是死火山可能会再喷发呀，”小王子打断了他的话，“‘昙花一现’--那究竟是什么意思嘛--？”
“无论是死火山还是活火山，对我们来说都是一样的。”地理学家说道，“在我们来看它们都是山。山是不会变的。”
“‘昙花一现’--那到底是什么意思嘛--？”小王子重复着他的问题。他只要问了一个问题，得不到答案他是不会放弃的。
“它的意思就是，‘很容易就会迅速消失的。’”
“我的花儿也是很容易就迅速消失的吗？”
“花儿当然是这样的。”
“我的花是昙花一现的，”小王子自言自语道，“她只有四根花刺来保护自己不受外界的伤害。而我却把她一个人孤零零地留在我的星球上！”
他第一次感觉到了后悔。不过他再次鼓起勇气。
“你建议我接下来去哪个星球呢？”他问道。
“去行星地球吧，”地理学家回答说，“我对它早有耳闻。”
小王子走了，他一路想念着他的花儿。
【the English Text】
The Little Prince
Chapter 15
The sixth planet was ten times larger than the last one. It was inhabited by an old gentleman who wrote voluminous books.
"Oh, look! Here is an explorer!" he exclaimed to himself when he saw the little prince coming.
The little prince sat down on the table and panted a little. He had already traveled so much and so far!
"Where do you come from?" the old gentleman said to him.
"What is that big book?" said the little prince. "What are you doing?"
"I am a geographer, “the old gentleman said to him.
"What is a geographer?" asked the little prince.
"A geographer is a scholar who knows the location of all the seas, rivers, towns, mountains, and deserts."
"That is very interesting," said the little prince. "Here at last is a man who has a real profession!" And he cast a look around him at the planet of the geographer. It was the most magnificent and stately planet that he had ever seen.
"Your planet is very beautiful," he said. "Has it any oceans?"
"I couldn‘t tell you," said the geographer.
"Ah!" The little prince was disappointed. "Has it any mountains?"
"I couldn‘t tell you," said the geographer.
"And towns, and rivers, and deserts?"
"I couldn‘t tell you that, either."
"But you are a geographer!"
"Exactly," the geographer said. "But I am not an explorer. I haven‘t a single explorer on my planet. It is not the geographer who goes out to count the towns, the rivers, the mountains, the seas, the oceans, and the deserts. The geographer is much too important to go loafing about. He does not leave his desk. But he receives the explorers in his study. He asks them questions, and he notes down what they recall of their travels. And if the recollections of any one among them seem interesting to him, the geographer orders an inquiry into that explorer‘s moral character."
"Why is that?"
"Because an explorer who told lies would bring disaster on the books of the geographer. So would an explorer who drank too much."
"Why is that?" asked the little prince.
"Because intoxicated men see double. Then the geographer would note down two mountains in a place where there was only one."
"I know some one," said the little prince, "who would make a bad explorer."
"That is possible. Then, when the moral character of the explorer is shown to be good, an inquiry is ordered into his discovery."
"One goes to see it?"
"No. That would be too complicated. But one requires the explorer to furnish proofs. For example, if the discovery in question is that of a large mountain, one requires that large stones be brought back from it."
The geographer was suddenly stirred to excitement.
"But you—you come from far away! You are an explorer! You shall describe your planet to me!"
And, having opened his big register, the geographer sharpened his pencil. The recitals of explorers are put down first in pencil. One waits until the explorer has furnished proofs, before putting them down in ink.
"Well?" said the geographer expectantly.
"Oh, where I live," said the little prince, "it is not very interesting. It is all so small. I have three volcanoes. Two volcanoes are active and the other is extinct. But one never knows."
"One never knows," said the geographer.
"I have also a flower."
"We do not record flowers," said the geographer.
"Why is that? The flower is the most beautiful thing on my planet!"
"We do not record them," said the geographer, “because they are ephemeral."
"What does that mean ‘ephemeral‘?"
"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things."
"But extinct volcanoes may come to life again," the little prince interrupted. "What does that mean ‘ephemeral‘?"
"Whether volcanoes are extinct or alive, it comes to the same thing for us," said the geographer. "The thing that matters to us is the mountain. It does not change."
"But what does that mean ‘ephemeral‘?" repeated the little prince, who never in his life had let go of a question, once he had asked it.
"It means, ‘which is in danger of speedy disappearance. ‘"
"Is my flower in danger of speedy disappearance?"
"Certainly it is."
"My flower is ephemeral," 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!"
That was his first moment of regret. But he took courage once more.
"What place would you advise me to visit now?" he asked.
"The planet Earth," replied the geographer. “It has a good reputation."
And the little prince went away, thinking of his flower.
