第五章

因为在小王子的星球上，有些非常可骇的种子……就是猴面包树的种子，这类种子多得成灾，它们会入侵全部星球的地盘。而一棵猴面包树苗，假定你拔得太迟，就再也没法把它断根掉。它会占有全部星球。它会长出很多树根。如果星球很小，而猴面包树很多，它就把全部星球搞得支离破裂。

Chapter 5

“是的，是真的。”

The idea of the herd of elephants made the little prince laugh.

I did not understand why it was so important that sheep should eat little bushes. But the little prince added:"Then it follows that they also eat baobabs"I pointed out to the little prince that baobabs were not little bushes, but, on the contrary, trees as big as castles; and that even if he took a whole herd of elephants away with him, the herd would not eat up one single baobab.

我对小王子指出说，猴面包树可不是甚么小灌木，而是像城堡那么大的大树，即便是带回一群大象，也啃不了一棵猴面包树。

然后，他又给出了一个非常聪敏的批评：“猴面包树在长大之前，开端也是小小的。”

"We would have to put them one on top of the other," he said.

他立即答复我道：“哦，行了，行了。”仿佛这是不言而喻的，我本身却被迫要费很大的脑力来处理这个题目。

A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces...

因而，按照小王子的描述，我把这个有三棵猴面包树的星球画了下来。我非常不甘心以品德表率自居，但是猴面包树的伤害大师都不大抵味，对丢失在小行星上的人来讲，伤害性非常之大，是以这一回，我冒然突破了我的这类不喜好经验人的常例，我简朴直白地说：“孩子们，要把稳那些猴面包树呀！”像我一样很长时候以来都避开了这个伤害的朋友们，乃至都不晓得这类伤害的存在。是以为了他们，我花了很大的工夫画了这幅画。通过这类体例让大师学到的这节课，统统过程中的费事都值得了。你们或许要问，为甚么这本书中别的画都没有这幅猴面包树的画那么壮观并且印象深切呢？答复很简朴：别的画我也曾经试丹青得好些，却没胜利。而当我画猴面包树时，有一种孔殷的表情在驱动着我。

“不错。”我说，“但是为甚么你想叫你的羊去吃小猴面包树呢？”

它们温馨地甜睡在泥土中，直到此中的一粒俄然想要复苏过来……因而它就伸展开身子，先是害臊地朝着太阳长出一棵娟秀敬爱的小嫩苗。如果是小萝卜或是玫瑰的嫩苗，就任由它去尽情地发展。如果是一棵坏苗，一旦被辨认出来，就应当顿时把它拔掉。

“这是个端方题目。”小王子厥后向我解释道，“每天早上洗漱结束今后，必须非常细心地给星球做洁净和打扮。你必须规定本身定时去拔掉猴面包树苗。这类树苗小的时候与玫瑰苗长得差未几，一旦你把它们认出来，就要把它拔掉。这是一件非常有趣的事情，但也很轻易。”

我不明白绵羊吃矮小灌木这件事为甚么如此首要。可小王子又弥补说道：“那么，它们也吃猴面包树吗？”

Perhaps you will ask me, "Why are there no other drawing in this book as magnificent and impressive as this drawing of the baobabs"The reply is simple. I have tried. But with the others I have not been successful. When I made the drawing of the baobabs I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.

As each day passed I would learn, in our talk, something about the little prince’s planet, his departure from it, his journey. The information would come very slowly, as it might chance to fall from his thoughts. It was in this way that I heard, on the third day, about the catastrophe of the baobabs.

这一次，我还要再次感激那只绵羊，因为小王子仿佛是非常担忧地问我道：“绵羊吃矮小的灌木，这是真的吗？”

的确，正如我之前体味到的，在小王子居住的星球上，也和别的星球一样，存在着好的植物和坏的植物，是以，也就存在来自好的植物的好的种子，和来自坏的植物的坏的种子。但是，我们是看不见种子的。

They sleep deep in the heart of the earth’s darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin― timidly at first― to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun.

一群大象这类设法使小王子大笑起来：“那可得把这些大象叠起来才行。”

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..."So, as the little prince described it to me, I have made a drawing of that planet. I do not much like to take the tone of a moralist. But the danger of the baobabs is so little understood, and such considerable risks would be run by anyone who might get lost on an asteroid, that for once I am breaking through my reserve. "Children," I say plainly, "watch out for the baobabs!"My friends, like myself, have been skirting this danger for a long time, without ever knowing it; and so it is for them that I have worked so hard over this drawing. The lesson which I pass on by this means is worth all the trouble it has cost me.

This time, once more, I had the sheep to thank for it. For the little prince asked me abruptly― as if seized by a grave doubt― "It is true, isn’t it, that sheep eat little bushes""Yes, that is true."

But he made a wise comment:

"It is a question of discipline," the little prince said to me later on. "When you’ve finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care. You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rosebushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. It is very tedious work," the little prince added, "but very easy."And one day he said to me: "You ought to make a beautiful drawing, so that the children where you live can see exactly how all this is. That would be very useful to them if they were to travel some day. Sometimes," he added, "there is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day.

"Before they grow so big, the baobabs start out by being little.""That is strictly correct," I said. "But why do you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs"He answered me at once, "Oh, come, come!", as if he were speaking of something that was self-evident. And I was obliged to make a great mental effort to solve this problem, without any assistance.

“啊，我真欢畅。”

有一天，小王子劝我无妨画一幅标致的丹青，好让地球上的孩子们对于猴面包树的风险有一个深切的印象。“如果他们出表面光的时候，”他对我说，“你的画对他们是很有效的。偶然候，人们把本身的事情提早到今后去做，并没有甚么风险，但要碰到拔猴面包树苗这类事，迟延就非形成大灾害不成。我体味到一个星球，上面住着一个怠惰的家伙，他忽视了三棵小猴面包树苗……”

If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.

Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived― as on all planets― good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible.

"Ah! I am glad!"

Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them.

每天我都体味到一些关于小王子的星球、他的出走和观光等事情。这些都是偶尔和他扳谈中不经意渐渐获得的。就如许，在碰到小王子的第三天，我就体味到关于猴面包树的伤害。