第二十四章
现在是我在戈壁上产闹变乱的第八天。就在我听着有关这个小商贩的故事时，我喝完了备用的最后一滴水。
“为甚么不？”
"What makes the desert beautiful," said the little prince, "is that somewhere it hides a well..."I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart...
我无可何如：在茫茫的大戈壁上自觉地去找水井，真是一件荒唐事。但是我们还是解缆了。
我不懂他的话是甚么意义，可我也不作声……我非常清楚几次查问他是不成能的。
他累了，他坐下来。我在他身边坐下。沉默了一会儿，他又说道：“星星是很美的，因为有一朵人们看不到的花……”
我答复道：“是的。”然后我就不再多说甚么，只是冷静地看着月光下戈壁的起伏的波浪。
"My dear little man, this is no longer a matter that has anything to do with the fox!""Why not"
确切如此。我一向很喜好戈壁，坐在一个沙丘上，甚么也看不见、听不见。但是，却有一种说不出的东西在冷静地放着光……
他不睬解我的思路，他说：
When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little prince’s last words came reeling back into my memory:"Then you are thirsty, too" I demanded.
他却不答复我的题目，只是对我说：“水对心也是有好处的……”
"The desert is beautiful," the little prince added.
“因为我就要渴死了。”
“你也渴了，对吗？”我问他。
"Yes," I said to the little prince. "The house, the stars, the desert― what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!""I am glad," he said, "that you agree with my fox."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. 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 trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: "What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is 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, 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 by a little puff of wind...
"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...""He has no way of guessing the danger," I said to myself. "He has never been either hungry or thirsty. A little sunshine is all he needs..."But he looked at me steadily, and replied to my thought:"I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well..."I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking.
他平静地看着我，明白了我的设法：“我也渴了……我们去找一口井吧……”
And, as I walked on so, I found the well, at daybreak.
“我真欢畅，你和我的狐狸的观点一样。”小王子说。
看到他稍稍伸开嘴唇暴露一丝浅笑，我在内心说：“在这个熟睡了的小王子身上，打动我的，是他对他那朵花的虔诚，是在贰心中闪动的那朵玫瑰花的形象。这朵玫瑰花，即便在小王子睡着了的时候，也像一盏灯的火焰一样在他身上闪烁着光辉……”这时，我就感遭到他更加脆弱。我感觉我需求去庇护他，哪怕他是一点风便能够吹灭的火焰……就如许走着，我在拂晓时发明了水井。
我们冷静地走了好几个小时今后，入夜了下来，星星开端收回亮光。因为口渴，我有点发热，我看着这些星星，像在梦中一样。小王子最后说的话，又回到我的脑海中。
But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me:"Water may also be good for the heart..."I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him.
“即便将近死了，有过一个朋友也好啊！我就为我有过一个狐狸朋友而感到很欢畅……”
“我的小家伙，现在还说甚么狐狸！”
我很惊奇，俄然明白了戈壁的奥秘之光是甚么。当我还是一个小孩子的时候，我住在一座陈腐的屋子里，传闻这个屋子里埋藏着一个宝贝。当然，向来没有任何人能发明这个宝贝，能够，乃至也没有人去寻觅过。但是，这个宝贝使全部屋子增加了某种奥秘。我家的屋子在它的心灵深处埋没着一个奥妙……我对小王子说道：“是的，不管是屋子、星星或是戈壁，因为某种奥秘使它们更斑斓！”
小王子对我说：“我的朋友狐狸……”
小王子睡觉了，我就把他抱在怀里，又重新上路了。我很打动，就仿佛抱着一个脆弱的宝贝。在地球上没有比这更脆弱的了。我借着月光，看着他惨白的面额，这双紧闭的眼睛，这随风飞舞的卷发，这时我对本身说道：“我所看到的仅仅是表面。最首要的是看不见的……”
“戈壁真标致。”小王子又说道。
"Ah," I said to the little prince, "these memories of yours are very charming; but I have not yet succeeded in repairing my plane; I have nothing more to drink; and I, too, should be very happy if I could walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water!""My friend the fox―" the little prince said to me.
Chapter 24
And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...
“他毫不成能认识到如许的伤害。”我本身考虑着，“他不晓得饥渴。只要有点阳光，他就满足了……”
“啊！”我对小王子说，“你回想的这些故事真吸惹人。但是，我还没有修好我的飞机。我没有水了，假定我能落拓地走到水泉边，我必然也会很欢畅的！”
He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again:"The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen."I replied, "Yes, that is so." And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight.
“使戈壁变得斑斓的，就是在某个角落里，藏着一口井……”
It was now the eighth day since I had had my accident in the desert, and I had listened to the story of the merchant as I was drinking the last drop of my water supply.