英语口语·吉米老师说
《小王子》是著名的短篇小说,每章音频3-4分钟,配上地道的伦敦腔,非常合适做睡前故事哦!留言区有完整版双语文本和音频领取方式,整理了超久,一定要收藏哦!
英语·小王子
本文整理于网络资源,版权归原作者所有
The Little Prince
朗读 Peter Ustinov【英】 | 译者:周克希
小王子 07
On the fifth day-- again, as always, it was thanks to the sheep-- the secret of the little prince's life was revealed to me. Abruptly, without anything to lead up to it, and as if the question had been born of long and silent meditation on his problem, he demanded:
"A sheep-- if it eats little bushes, does it eat flowers, too?"
第五天,还是羊的事情,把小王子生活的秘密向我揭开了。他好像有个问题默默地思索了很久,终于得出了结论,突然没头没脑地问我:
“绵羊既然吃灌木,那它也吃花儿?”
"A sheep," I answered, "eats anything it finds in its reach."
“它碰到什么吃什么。”
"Even flowers that have thorns?"
“连有刺的花儿也吃?”
"Yes, even flowers that have thorns."
“对。有刺的也吃。”
"Then the thorns-- what use are they?"
“那么,刺有什么用呢?”
I did not know. At that moment I was very busy trying to unscrew a bolt that had got stuck in my engine. I was very much worried, for it was becoming clear to me that the breakdown of my plane was extremely serious. And I had so little drinking-water left that I had to fear for the worst.
我不知道该怎么回答。当时我正忙着要从发动机上卸下一颗拧得太紧的螺钉。我发现故障似乎很严重,饮用水也快完了。我担心会发生最坏的情况,心里很着急。
"The thorns-- what use are they?"
“那么,刺有什么用呢?”
The little prince never let go of a question, once he had asked it. As for me, I was upset over that bolt. And I answered with the first thing that came into my head:
"The thorns are of no use at all. Flowers have thorns just for spite!"
小王子只要提了一个问题,就不依不饶地要得到答案。而那个螺钉正弄得我很恼火,我就随口回答了一句:
“刺呀,什么用都没有,纯粹是花儿想使坏呗。”
"Oh!"
“喔!”
There was a moment of complete silence. Then the little prince flashed back at me, with a kind of resentfulness:
"I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive. They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons..."
但他沉默了一会儿以后,忿忿然地冲着我说:
“我不信你的话!花儿是纤弱的,天真的。它们想尽量保护自己。它们以为有了刺就会显得很厉害……”
I did not answer. At that instant I was saying to myself: "If this bolt still won't turn, I am going to knock it out with the hammer." Again the little prince disturbed my thoughts.
我没作声。我当时想:“要是这颗螺钉再不松开,我就一锤子敲掉它。”小王子又打断了我的思路:
"And you actually believe that the flowers--"
“可你,你却认为花儿……”
"Oh, no!" I cried. "No, no no! I don't believe anything. I answered you with the first thing that came into my head. Don't you see-- I am very busy with matters of consequence!"
“行了!行了!我什么也不认为!我只是随口说说。我正忙着干正事呢!”
He stared at me, thunderstruck.
他惊愕地望着我。
"Matters of consequence!"
“正事!”
He looked at me there, with my hammer in my hand, my fingers black with engine-grease, bending down over an object which seemed to him extremely ugly...
他看我握着锤子,手指沾满油污,俯身对着一个他觉得非常丑陋的物件。
"You talk just like the grown-ups!"
“你说话就像那些大人!”
That made me a little ashamed. But he went on, relentlessly:
"You mix everything up together... You confuse everything..."
这话使我有些难堪。而他毫不留情地接着说:
“你什么都分不清……你把什么都搅在一起!”
He was really very angry. He tossed his golden curls in the breeze.
他真的气极了,一头金发在风中摇曳
"I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures. And all day he says over and over, just like you: 'I am busy with matters of consequence!' And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man-- he is a mushroom!"
我到过一个星球,上面住着一个红脸先生。他从没闻过花香。他从没望过星星。他从没爱过一个人。除了算账,他什么事也没做过。他成天像你一样说个没完:‘我有正事要干!我有正事要干!’变得骄气十足。可是这算不得一个人,他是个蘑菇。”
"A what?"
“是个什么?”
"A mushroom!"
“是个蘑菇!”
The little prince was now white with rage.
小王子这会儿气得脸色发白了。
"The flowers have been growing thorns for millions of years. For millions of years the sheep have been eating them just the same. And is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the flowers go to so much trouble to grow thorns which are never of any use to them? Is the warfare between the sheep and the flowers not important? Is this not of more consequence than a fat red-faced gentleman's sums? And if I know-- I, myself-- one flower which is unique in the world, which grows nowhere but on my planet, but which one little sheep can destroy in a single bite some morning, without even noticing what he is doing-- Oh! You think that is not important!"
“几百万年以前,花儿就长刺了。可几百万年以前,羊也早就在吃花儿了。刺什么用也没有,那花儿为什么要费那份劲去长刺呢,把这弄明白难道不是正事吗?绵羊和花儿的战争难道不重要吗?这难道不比那个胖子红脸先生的算账更重要,更是正事吗?还有,如果我认识一朵世上独一无二的花儿,除了我的星球,哪儿都找不到这样的花儿,而有天早上,一只小羊甚至都不明白自己在做什么,就一口把花儿吃掉了,这难道不重要吗!”
His face turned from white to red as he continued:
"If some one 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 sheep eats the flower, in one moment all his stars will be darkened... And you think that is not important!"
他的脸红了起来,接着往下说:
“如果有个人爱上一朵花儿,好几百万好几百万颗星星中间,只有一颗上面长着这朵花儿,那他只要望着许许多多星星,就会感到很幸福。他对自己说:‘我的花儿就在其中的一颗星星上……’可要是绵羊吃掉了这朵花儿,这对他来说,就好像满天的星星突然一下子都熄灭了!这难道不重要吗!”
He could not say anything more. His words were choked by sobbing.
The night had fallen. I had let my tools drop from my hands. Of what moment now was my hammer, my bolt, or thirst, or death? On one star, one planet, my planet, the Earth, there was a little prince to be comforted. I took him in my arms, and rocked him. I said to him:
"The flower that you love is not in danger. I will draw you a muzzle for your sheep. I will draw you a railing to put around your flower. I will--"
他说不下去了,突然抽抽噎噎地哭了起来。夜色降临。我放下手中的工具。锤子呀,螺钉呀,口渴呀,死亡呀,我全都丢在了脑后。在一颗星星,在一颗我所在的行星,在这个地球上,有个小王子需要安慰!我把他抱在怀里。我摇着他,对他说:“你爱的那朵花儿不会有危险的……我会给你的绵羊画一只嘴罩……我会给你的花儿画一个护栏……我……”
I did not know what to say to him. I felt awkward and blundering. I did not know how I could reach him, where I could overtake him and go on hand in hand with him once more.
我不知道再说什么好了。我觉得自己笨嘴笨舌的。我不知道怎样去接近他,打动他……
It is such a secret place, the land of tears.
泪水的世界,是多么神秘啊。
小王子 08
小王子08.mp3音频:00:00/05:32
I soon learned to know this flower better. On the little prince's planet the flowers had always been very simple. They had only one ring of petals; they took up no room at all; they were a trouble to nobody.
我很快就对这朵花儿有了更多的了解。在小王子的星球上,过去一直长着些很简单的花儿,这些花儿只有一层花瓣,不占地方,也不妨碍任何人。
One morning they would appear in the grass, and by night they would have faded 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.
某个早晨她们会在草丛中绽放,一到晚上又都悄悄凋谢了。有一天,一颗不知从哪儿来的种子发了芽,长出的嫩苗跟别的幼苗都不一样。小王子小心翼翼地观察着这株嫩苗,它说不定是猴面包树的一枝幼芽呢。
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 colours with the greatest care. 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.
但是这株嫩苗很快就不再长大,渐渐含苞欲放。小王子眼看着它绽出一个很大很大的花蕾,心想这花蕾里一定会出现奇妙的景象,可是这朵花儿待在绿色的花萼里面,磨磨蹭蹭地打扮个没完。她精心挑选着自己的颜色,慢吞吞地穿上衣裙,一片一片地理顺花瓣。她不愿像虞美人[注释]那样一亮相就是满脸皱纹。她要让自己美艳照人地来到世间。噢!对。她很爱俏!她那神秘的装扮,就这样日复一日地延续着。
Then one morning, exactly at sunrise, she suddenly showed herself.
然后,有一天早晨,太阳刚升起的时候,她绽放了。
And, after working with all this painstaking precision, she yawned and said:
"Ah! I am scarcely awake. I beg that you will excuse me. My petals are still all disarranged..."
她精心打扮了那么久,这会儿却打着哈欠说:
“啊!我刚睡醒……真对不起……头发还是乱蓬蓬的……”
But the little prince could not restrain his admiration:
"Oh! How beautiful you are!"
这时,小王子的爱慕之情油然而生:
“您真美!”
"Am I not?" the flower responded, sweetly. "And I was born at the same moment as the sun..."
“可不是吗,”花儿柔声答道,“我是跟太阳同时出生的嘛……”
The little prince could guess easily enough that she was not any too modest-- but how moving-- and exciting-- she was!
小王子感觉到了她不太谦虚,不过她实在太楚楚动人了!
"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,现在该是用早餐的时间了,”她随即又说,“麻烦您也给我……”
And the little prince, completely abashed, went to look for a sprinkling-can of fresh water. So, he tended the flower.
小王子很不好意思,于是就打来一壶清水,给这朵花儿浇水。
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:
"Let the tigers come with their claws!"
就这样,她带着点多疑的虚荣心,很快就把他折磨得够呛。比如说,有一天说起她的四根刺,她对小王子说:
“那些老虎,让它们张着爪子来好了!”
"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,”小王子顶了她一句,“再说,老虎也不吃草呀。”
"I am not a weed," the flower replied, sweetly.
“我不是草,”花儿柔声答道。
"Please excuse me..."
“对不起……”
"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?"
“我不怕老虎,可我怕风。您没有风障吗?”
"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..."
“怕风……一棵植物到了这份上,那可惨了,”小王子轻声说,“花儿可真难伺候……”
"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--"
“晚上您要把我罩起来。您这儿很冷。又没安顿好。我来的那地方……”
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. Embarassed 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.
可是她没说下去。她来的时候是颗种子。她不可能知道别的世界是怎么样的。让人发现她说的谎这么不高明,她又羞又恼,就咳嗽了两三声,想让小王子觉得理亏
"The screen?"
“风障呢?”
"I was just going to look for it when you spoke to me..."
“我正要去拿,可您跟我搭话了!”
Then she forced her cough a little more so that he should suffer from remorse just the same.
于是她咳得更重了些,不管怎么说,她非让他感到内疚不可。
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.
就这样,小王子尽管真心真意喜欢这朵花儿,可还是很快就对她起了疑心。他对那些无关紧要的话太当真了,结果自己很苦恼。
"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."
“我本来不该去听她说什么的,”有一天他对我说了心里话,“花儿说的话,是听不得的。花儿是让人看,让人闻的。这朵花儿让我的星球芳香四溢,我却不会享受这快乐。老虎爪子那些话,惹得我那么生气,其实我该同情她才是……”
And he continued his confidences:
"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 strategems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her..."
他还对我说:
“我当时什么也不懂!看她这个人,应该看她做什么,而不是听她说什么。她给了我芳香,给了我光彩。我真不该逃走!我本该猜到她那小小花招背后的一片
柔情。花儿总是这么表里不一!可惜当时我太年轻,还不懂得怎么去爱她。”
小王子 09
小王子09.mp3音频:00:00/03:16
I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a flock of wild birds. On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order. He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes. He possessed two active volcanoes; and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning. He also had one volcano that was extinct. But, as he said, "One never knows!" So he cleaned out the extinct volcano, too. If they are well cleaned out, volcanoes burn slowly and steadily, without any eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.
我想他是趁一群野鸟迁徙的机会出走的。动身的那天早晨,他把星球收拾得井井有条。他仔细地疏通了活火山。星球上有两座活火山,热早餐很方便。还有一座死火山。不过,正像他所说的:“谁说得准呢!”所以这座死火山也照样要疏通。火山疏通过了,就会缓缓地、均匀地燃烧,不会喷发。火山喷发跟烟囱冒火是一样的。
On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes. That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.
当然,在地球上,我们实在太小了,没法去疏通火山。它们造成那么多麻烦,就是由于这个缘故。
The little prince also pulled up, with a certain sense of dejection, the last little shoots of the baobabs. He believed that he would never want to return. But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him. And when he watered the flower for the last time, and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe, he realised that he was very close to tears.
小王子还拔掉了刚长出来的几株猴面包树幼苗。他心情有点忧郁,心想这一走就再也回不来了。所有这些习惯的活儿,这天早上都显得格外亲切。而当他最后一次给花儿浇水,准备给她盖上罩子的时候,他只觉得想哭。
"Goodbye," he said to the flower.
“再见啦,”他对花儿说。
But she made no answer.
可是她没有回答。
"Goodbye," he said again.
“再见啦,”他又说了一遍。
The flower coughed. But it was not because she had a cold.
花儿咳嗽起来。但不是由于感冒。
"I have been silly," she said to him, at last. "I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy..."
“我以前太傻了,”她终于开口了,“请你原谅我。但愿你能幸福。”
He was surprised by this absence of reproaches. He stood there all bewildered, the glass globe held arrested in mid-air. He did not understand this quiet sweetness.
他感到吃惊的是,居然没有一声责备。他举着罩子,茫然不知所措地站在那儿。他不懂这般恬淡的柔情。
"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 globe be. I don't want it any more."
“是的,我爱你,”花儿对他说,“但由于我的过错,你一点儿也没领会。这没什么要紧。不过你也和我一样傻。但愿你能幸福……把这罩子放在一边吧,我用不着它了。”
"But the wind--"
“可是风……”
"My cold is not so bad as all that... the cool night air will do me good. I am a flower."
“我并不是那么容易感冒的……夜晚的新鲜空气对我有好处。我是一朵花儿。”
"But the animals--"
“可是那些虫子和野兽……”
"Well, I must endure 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."
“我既然想认识蝴蝶,就应该受得了两三条毛虫。我觉得这样挺好。要不然有谁来看我呢?你,你到时候已经走得远远的了。至于野兽,我根本不怕。我也有爪子。”
And, naively, she showed her four thorns. Then she added:
"Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go!"
说着,她天真地让他看那四根刺。随后她又说:
“别磨磨蹭蹭的,让人心烦。你已经决定要走了。那就走吧。”
For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...
因为她不愿意让他看见自己流泪。她是一朵如此骄傲的花儿……
,