【本节导读】本节是小王子的第一章。在这一章，作者回忆了他在六岁时曾被自然界的奇观，尤其是蟒蛇吞食比它大许多的动物所吸引。他开始试着自己画画，可是大人不仅看不懂，还建议他务正业，学数理化吧。就这样，他放弃了画家的事业，最终成为了一名飞行家（Aviator。注，此时飞机飞行仍是一项高端技能，而不是一种普通职业，因此，这个年代能开飞机的人被称之为Aviator，飞行家，而不是pilot 飞行员。大家一定看过一部叫做Aviator的电影吧）。不过已经是大人的作者只是把他的童心隐藏了起来，而没有丢掉，他只是伪装成了一个理性的大人而已。
【#刘博士英语学习法问答#】我喜欢英语，我就是不喜欢看书怎么办？
我也给你说个我自己的秘密：我曾经也不喜欢读书，也只是喜欢英语而已。我知道我们一些人被书伤过，所以除了不得已的考证和“充电”的书以外，学校毕业以后是不读书的。
我的秘诀是：不要把英语书当书看，当自己爱好的“英语”学就好（所以我的英语课内容每次就5分钟）。其次如果你真的爱好英语，找出你爱好的真正英语内容。比如如果你喜欢美剧的话，那就太好不过了，你肯定知道你是喜欢历史类、魔幻类还是科幻类的类别，然后找这方面英语学。刘博士很快要推出的《冰与火之歌》和《金星人火星人》俱乐部分别针对成人的魔幻爱好者和情感婚姻专题。
【英语词汇】
1、 indulgence [ɪnˈdʌldʒəns]:
Indulgence means treating someone with special kindness, often when it is not a good thing.
2、Boa Constrictor [ˈboʊə kənstrɪktə(r)]:
A boa constrictor is a large snake that kills animals by wrapping itself round their bodies and squeezing them to death. Boa constrictors are found mainly in South and Central America and the West Indies.
3、digestion [daɪˈdʒestʃən]:
Digestion is the process of digesting food.
4、masterpiece [ˈmæstərpiːs]:
A masterpiece is an extremely good painting, novel, film, or other work of art.
5、arithmetic [əˈrɪθmətɪk]:
Arithmetic is the part of mathematics that is concerned with the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of numbers.
6、distinguish [dɪˈstɪŋɡwɪʃ]:
If you can distinguish one thing from another or distinguish between two things, you can see or understand how they are different.
7、intimately [ˈɪntəmɪtlɪ]:
If you have an intimate friendship with someone, you know them very well and like them a lot.
8、sensible [ˈsensəbl]:
Sensible actions or decisions are good because they are based on reasons rather than emotions.
9、consequence [ˈkɑːnsɪkwens]
The consequences of something are the results or effects of it.
【刘博士英语学习法】请参照早期公开课文章阅读方式，此处不再赘述。
【刘博士译文】小王子：第一章
The Little prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
献词：
我请那些读过这本书的小朋友容许我将这本书献给一个大人吧。我这么做是有重要理由的：首先，这个大人是我在这个世界上最好的朋友。第二个理由是：这个大人什么都懂，甚至连关于小孩子的书他也懂。我的第三个理由是：他现在住在法国，他又饿又冷，他需要有人给他打气。如果这么多的理由都不够的话，那我就把这本书献给这个大人还是小孩子时候的他。所有的大人都曾经是小孩子，不过他们很少有人记得这一点了。那我就修改一下我的献词吧：
致Leon Werth
当他还是一个小孩子的时候
（刘博士注：Leon Werth 是作者Saint-Exupéry的好朋友，也是法国著名作家，评论家）。
第一章
从前，当我还是六岁的时候，我曾在一本名叫《来自大自然的真实故事》的书中看到一幅关于原始森林的壮观的图片。那是一张蟒蛇正在吞食一只动物的画面。这幅画是这样画的。
书中说道：“蟒蛇将他们的猎物整个地吞下去，根本不咀嚼。在那之后，他们就不能动了，他们需要睡上六个月才能把食物全消化。”
我因此对丛林冒险进行了深深地思考。我用彩色铅笔并花了些功夫以后，成功地画出了我的第一幅画：我的1号作品。这幅画就是下面这样的：
我把我的大作拿给大人看，还问他们有没有被这幅画给吓着。
可是大人们回答说：“吓着？怎么会有人被一顶帽子给吓着呢？”
我画的不是一顶帽子，那是一幅蟒蛇正在消化大象的图画！可是，既然成年人没法看懂它，我于是又画了一幅画：我把蟒蛇的肚子里面给画了出来，这样大人们就能看清楚了。他们总是需要你给他们解释事情。我的2号作品是这样的：
这一次呀，大人们的反应是建议我把我的蟒蛇画搁一边去，管他是从里面画还是从外面画的。他们建议我还是一心一意学习地理、历史、算术和语法吧。就这样，我在六岁的时候放弃了本可能成为一名画家的伟大事业。我因为我的绘画一号作品和二号作品的失败而灰心丧气。大人们永远不会自己去理解任何事情，总是让孩子没完没了地给他们解释这些事情，太讨厌啦!。
就这样，我后来选择了另一种职业，学会了开飞机。我飞过了世界上的许多地方，的确，地理对我还是非常有用。我一眼就能区别出哪里是中国，哪里是亚利桑那州。如果有人在晚上迷路了，这样的知识是很宝贵的。
在我的一生中，我遇见过许许多多的人，他们都很在意那些意义重大的事情。我和大人们还一起生活了很长的时间。我有机会近距离地仔细观察他们。但是这并没有让我对他们的看法有多大改观。
每当我遇到一个大人，一个在我看来完全是观察力很细致的人时，我就会做一个实验，给他看我一直保存着的我的一号绘画作品。这样我就可以判断出来这个人是不是一个具有真正理解力的人。可是，不管我给谁看这幅画，不管他是男是女，他总会说：“那是一顶帽子。”
之后，我就再也不会和那个人说起蟒蛇、原始森林或是星星之类的事了。我会把自己降低到他的水平。我会和他谈论桥牌、高尔夫、政治和领带等。大人们总是非常愿意和这样理智的人交往的。
（注：英语音频由刘博士录音，采用普通偏慢的速度，以辅助学习者听读和跟读。如需要正常语速原音音频，请与刘博士联系）。
English Text
The Little prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Preface
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:
To Leon Werth
when he was a little boy
Chapter I
Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a coloured pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing Frightened them.
But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:
The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.
In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.
Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: "That is a hat."
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.
（To be continued.)
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