"Millions of what?"
“几百万什么?”
The businessman suddenly realized that there was no hope of being left in peace until he answered this question."Millions of those little objects," he said, "which one sometimes sees in the sky."
这位实业家知道要想安宁是无望的了,就说道: “几百万个小东西,这些小东西有时出现在天空中。”
"Flies?"
“苍蝇吗?”
"Oh, no. Little glittering objects."
“不是,是些闪闪发亮的小东西。”
"Bees?"
“是蜜蜂吗?”
"Oh, no. Little golden objects that set lazy men to idle dreaming. As for me, I am concerned with matters of consequence. There is no time for idle dreaming in my life."
“不是,是金黄色的小东西,这些小东西叫那些懒汉们胡思乱想。我是个严肃的人。我没有时间胡思乱想。”
"Ah! You mean the stars?"
“啊,是星星吗?”
"Yes, that's it. The stars."
“对了,就是星星。”
"And what do you do with five-hundred millions of stars?"
“你要拿这五亿星星做什么?”
"Five-hundred-and-one million, six-hundred-twenty-two thousand, seven-hundred-thirty-one. I am concerned with matters of consequence: I am accurate."
“五亿一百六十二万七百三十一颗星星。我是严肃的人,我是非常精确的。”
"And what do you do with these stars?"
“你拿这些星星做什么?”
"What do I do with them?"
“我要它做什么?”
"Yes."
“是呀。”
"Nothing. I own them."
“什么也不做。它们都是属于我的。”
"You own the stars?"
“星星是属于你的?”
"Yes."
“是的。”
"But I have already seen a king who--"
“可是我已经见到过一个国王,他…”
"Kings do not own, they reign over. It is a very different matter."
“国王并不占有,他们只是进行‘统治’。这不是一码事。”